Not good

Of course there is some gallows humor possible in making cracks about Turkey killing turkeys, but this isn't good.

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - The slaughter of thousands of domestic fowl in Turkey and Romania began Sunday as a precaution against the spread of bird flu after both countries confirmed their first cases of the disease over the weekend.

It has not been determined in either country that the disease is the same H5N1 strain that has swept through poultry populations in Asia since 2003, infecting humans and killing at least 60 people.

In western Turkey, military police set up roadblocks at the entrance to a village near Balikesir. A two-mile radius was quarantined as veterinarians and other officials began destroying poultry at two turkey farms.

It was not clear how many animals would be destroyed, but the Anatolia news agency reported that authorities had slaughtered 600 out of 2,500 turkeys on one farm by noon Sunday.

Other fowl - including pigeons - and stray dogs in the village would also be killed as a precaution, said Nihat Pakdil, undersecretary of Turkey's Agriculture Ministry.

Bird flu was detected at a turkey farm after some 1,800 birds died this week, the Anatolia news agency reported. All animals in the farm were destroyed.

Turkey's Agriculture Ministry confirmed the outbreak Saturday and said the disease was believed to have spread from migratory birds on their way to Africa from Russia's Ural mountains.