KIEV, February 27 (RIA Novosti) - The lethal H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus has been identified in a zoo in Odessa, a port and resort city on the Ukrainian Black Sea coast, a local television channel said Monday.
According to ICTV, the local veterinary service confirmed that the H5N1 strain, which can be fatal to humans, had been discovered in birds who had recently died in the city's zoo.
Odessa Mayor Eduard Hurvits summoned the local legislature, which decided to close the zoo down, and to urgently move the 1,500 remaining birds elsewhere, the television channel said.
Ukraine was previously hit by a bird flu outbreak in its autonomy of Crimea, also on the Black Sea coast, in November 2005, following which more than 150,000 domestic fowl were culled in 40 locations around the Crimean peninsula.
