The Arkansas Department of Agriculture's Livestock and Poultry Commission implemented a statewide avian influenza emergency rule Wednesday that limits poultry exhibition activities for the next four months near an area where there is a confirmed case of the bird flu.
The precautionary measure took effect Wednesday and runs through mid-July.
Animal owners are now prohibited from exhibiting, moving, selling, trading or giving away their poultry or domestic waterfowl if they are within 25 miles of a surrounding flock with a confirmed case of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The virus has not been found in Arkansas this year, but several reported cases have been found in commercial poultry and backyard flocks in the Mississippi Flyway and the Atlantic Flyway.
The virus has affected about 350,000 birds in Missouri so far, data shows.
As a requirement of the rule, free range and backyard poultry are to be confined under a roof or inside a structure to prevent contamination from infected migratory birds flying overhead.
The state agency recommended that poultry owners closely monitor their flocks and report any possible symptoms. The full rule is available at https://bit.ly/AIrule.