Idaho considers bird cull

US investigators are deciding whether to cull hundreds of pheasants, chukars, ducks and quail after discovering bird flu at an Idaho farm.

Other bird farms within a two mile radius were also being examined by the US Department of Agriculture, AP reported.

A cull may be carried out after two birds were found with a strain of avian influenza by vets carrying out routine disease checks.

Officials were unsure how the birds became infected because they were kept in pens, but it might have been through wild bird droppings.

Bird flu is concerning because it can be spread easily by migrating birds, it has spread from south-east Asia to parts of Europe and Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

Avian influenza cannot be transferred to humans through meat that has been properly cooked, but all the birds on the Idaho farm were kept for sporting purposes and not for consumption.

The virus was not the same as that found in birds in other parts of the world, the Department of Agriculture added

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