A cull of 55,000 ducks on a Suffolk farm was completed this morning, officials have confirmed.

Eastern Daily Press: A duck cull was scheduled to take place at Gressingham Foods in Redgrave. Picture: STUART ANDERSONA duck cull was scheduled to take place at Gressingham Foods in Redgrave. Picture: STUART ANDERSON (Image: Archant)

The cull, at a Gressingham Foods site at Redgrave, was ordered after bird flu H5N8 virus was identified there as Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) officials carried out routine follow-up investigations of Suffolk's first case of the Avian Influenza H5N8 virus at a nearby broiler breeding unit. The disease was not found in the ducks.

Around 23,000 birds were destroyed there in mid-February. An APHA spokesman said the ducks were humanely gassed using a mobile unit.

A Gressingham Foods spokesman said: 'Gressingham Foods are pleased to report that the action taken by DEFRA has been managed well and has not interrupted the supply of fresh duck to customers which continues from other farms located outside the surveillance zone.'