After the discovery of avian influenza yesterday in the Grosseto area, hundreds of animals will be put down. Late yesterday evening, the Health Ministry asked the National Avian Influenza Centre for its advice concerning the whether the ministerial decree DM 22/9/2000 should be urgently applied regarding the wild duck breeding grounds on which bird flu has been found, with the H5 strain and of the N type, still a phase of definition, but having ruled out that it is the "N1", the most contagious. The ministerial decree referred to provides for the culling of all the animals on the farm. The Health Ministry made the decision along with the Tuscany regional government and the healthcare body of Grosseto on the way to go about the matter in this specific case, and supplied instructions for the culling itself. In addition to the putting down of the wild ducks, the ministerial orders provide for other measures to limit the likelihood of the spread of the virus, which consist mostly in the establishing of a surveillance zone with a kilometre radius around the farm in question, surveillance which will begin immediately after the ordinance by the mayor of Grosseto and which will last for three weeks after the culling. In the zone the entire bird population will once again be checked, even birds intended for use by single families, as was done previously, since the entire area is inside or very close to a humid zone used by migratory birds. For the period in question, all the animals checked are to be considered under seizure and will have to be kept on the farms, prohibited from coming in or going out, including both the birds themselves and their products, meaning eggs and chicks. All farms in rural zones will be kept under constant surveillance by the veterinary service of the local healthcare authority. The culling of the farm-bred wild ducks will be carried out within a few days by a specialized firm, and the bodies will be destroyed and buried on the land where they are found after having their bodies disinfected. The owners of the animals culled will be reimbursed for the market value of the animals, established by an ad hoc committee provided for by law in the case of forced culling.