ROSTOV-ON-DON, February 24 (RIA Novosti) - More than 24,000 hens died at a poultry farm in southern Russia, a local official said Friday. "From February 20 to February 23, more than 24,000 birds died at a poultry farm in a village of Lavlinskaya (124 kilometers from the regional center Krasnodar)," an emergencies ministry spokesperson said.
He said there were about 300,000 hens at the farm and the preliminary data did not indicate bird flu as a potential cause of deaths.
"Samples for further tests have been sent to a regional lab in Krasnodar," the official said.
Bird flu outbreaks have been reported in January at two poultry farms in Daghestan, a republic in southern Russia.
