About 120 local government staff and about 90 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force members work to slaughter more than 500,000 egg-laying hens at a poultry farm with an outbreak of the avian influenza in Chitose City, Hokkaido Prefecture, northern Japan, March 28, 2023.

Yomiuri Shimbun/AP Images

BYJASMINE NG AND SHOKO ODA / BLOOMBERG

APRIL 5, 2023 12:30 AM EDT

Japan’s worst-ever bird flu outbreak has decimated its poultry flocks and sent egg prices soaring. Now there’s a lack of space to bury dead chickens.

More than 17 million birds have been killed nationwide this season. The disposal of carcasses must be done properly to prevent spreading the virus or contaminating water supplies. Local governments and farmers say there’s a shortage of suitable land to bury them, national broadcaster NHK reported.

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