Agriculture officials in the Netherlands have ordered commercial poultry farmers to move their birds indoors by Monday to try to keep them from catching bird flu.

The order follows recent reports of bird flu in Russia and Kazakhstan. The disease appears to be spreading westward, toward Europe. In 2003, Dutch farmers destroyed about 25 million birds to control an outbreak.

Germany's Agriculture Minister, Renate Kuenast, says emergency orders have been prepared which would require German farmers to bring their birds indoors in mid-September if the disease spreads into Europe.

No human cases of bird flu have been reported in Europe, but since 2003, an outbreak in Southeast Asia has killed 60 people and decimated poultry stocks.