In April, 2011, a strain of bird flu, H5N2, broke out in Oudtshoorn. As a member of the World Organisation for Animal Health, South Africa was required under international law to slaughter infected birds that belonged to farms which had tested positive for bird flu; as a result 38,000 ostriches were culled. The European Union, which had been responsible for 90% of South Africa's ostrich meat exports, banned the import of South African ostrich meat. This resulted in financial difficulties for the region's ostrich farms. Farmers were offered financial compensation by the government in the form of R2,000 for each ostrich culled (about 80% of its worth) but this compensation was not enough; they were forced to fire employees, whose UIF (unemployment) benefits were depleted by December, 2011. The shortage of birds would also affect factories which depended on ostrich farming. Some ostrich farms managed to survive by selling ostrich feathers and leather, but the industry was losing R108 million monthly, and had lost R1,2 billion in total between April, 2011, and January, 2012. Tourism was also affected. Other farmers resorted to heat-treating the ostrich meat, which killed the virus but also reduced its price on the market.