Bulgaria detects bird flu in dead pelicans

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's authorities said on Friday they had discovered the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus in two dead pelicans in a nature reserve in northeastern part of the Balkan country, close to neighboring Romania. "Samples were taken from the two birds after 21 Dalmatian pelicans were found dead and both are positive," the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency said in a statement. The agency said it had imposed a 3 km protection zone around the outbreak, which included a nearby village with back-yard farms and a poultry farm, which however did not have stock at the moment. (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by David Holmes)