More than 10,000 ducklings have been culled at a farm in Fujian province since the outbreak of H7N9 bird flu.

The cullings continued for a week, Lin Shundong, the farm owner, was quoted as saying by the Strait Herald on Thursday.

Hundreds of the ducklings, which were less than a day old, were thrown into plastic bags and suffocated within a few minutes, the report said.

"I had no other choice. If I had not disposed of them now, the ducklings would have starved to death later because of a fodder shortage," Lin said.

No duck dealers have purchased ducks and ducklings from him since the outbreak of H7N9 bird flu was first reported 10 days ago, he said.

At present, there are 15,000 ducks at Lin's farm and 30,000 ducklings will be hatched every five days.

For the farm, raising more ducks means losing more money, he said.

"Ducks at my farm have never been infected with bird flu and so far no cases of H7N9 bird flu have been reported in the province," he said.

-Jin Zhu

(China Daily 04/12/2013 page5)