Newcastle disease containment leaves lasting impact on Central Coast community

Margaret Pontifex says all her pet birds were killed during the Newcastle disease emergency in 1999. (ABC Central Coast: Mary-Louise Vince )

A region in NSW is still paying the price for an exotic animal disease outbreak that decimated a poultry farming community 24 years ago.

Almost 2 million birds were slaughtered within a 3-kilometre radius of Mangrove Mountain on the Central Coast to help prevent Newcastle disease from spreading.