"Euthanasia is prescribed by the Croatian law and European Union regulations, and it is the only way to efficiently counter bird flu given that this means the severance of connections between the source of the illness and domestic poultry," the head of the veterinary department of the Croatian Agriculture Ministry, Mate Brstilo, said this afternoon.
Euthanasia is being carried out within a three-kilometre-radius of the fish farm Grudnjak in the Zdenci municipality (about 200 kilometres east of Zagreb) where the dead swans were found.
Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic said that monitoring and other necessary measures were being conducted along all rivers and water areas in the country.
According to him, the Agriculture Ministry is in constant contact with the European Commission and informs it on a regular basis about all measures and activities which are being carried out in Croatia.
"Some countries have already offered certain forms of assistance, and we have contacted the Dutch Agriculture Ministry. We have asked them to end us epizootiologists and equipment for laboratories for establishing the existence of viruses of bird flu, Cobankovic said.