I remember that as well; but earlier today I posted another article about a cull, and when I went to look for it, I found that since then this article was posted about a cull that was 100x the size. Events of the severity of those fires are happening constantly, this is just the world we're living in and there's maybe not much we can do about it (although I'd be interested in also coming at it from a forestry and wildlife management perspective regarding wild bird flu reservoirs). Chickens can be bred very rapidly from a relatively small population of hens (and an even smaller population of roosters), but avian flu puts us in a situation where farmers are just constantly subject to existential risks to their businesses.
Perhaps it would be good to tie subsidies to implementation of practices to improve health of the flocks and reduce reliance on antibiotics; and it would probably be good for the chickens too. Of course, modern chicken farming is 100% dependent on industrially sexing newborn chicks and then immediately grinding nearly every male into pig feed. Sorry to anyone just finding this out btw.