Thousands of ducks were recently culled on some farms in the central Netherlands, while more than 1,500 were destroyed in the southwestern state of Karnataka in India as authorities are struggling to contain avian flu.

Dutch officials culled 190,000 ducks last Saturday, after the highly pathogenic H5N8 virus was detected and inspectors confirmed the existence of a highly infectious strain of bird flu at a farm in Biddinghuizen, roughly 43 miles west of Amsterdam.

NVWA, food & safety watchdog for the Netherlands, said nearly 180,000 ducks were destroyed in Biddinghuizen and additional 10,000 were destroyed within a one kilometer radius.

In Rotterdam, a park shut down its animal section after a number of aquatic birds were found to have died from the H5N8 virus. Others still not affected by the outbreak have been penned in.

In the village of Itagi in Karnataka, India, the H5N8 virus forced officials to destroy all 1,593 of the birds that were at risk from the disease.

The avian flu outbreak has swept across several countries in northern Europe, including Finland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden.