Western Canada: Alberta hit hard by avian flu outbreak

Good morning. It’s James Keller in Calgary.

A extremely contagious pressure of avian influenza has contaminated flocks of birds in virtually each province, however Alberta’s poultry trade has been bearing the brunt of the outbreak.

Not less than 900,000 birds are lifeless in Alberta, out of 1.7 million throughout the nation. Each province however Prince Edward Island has reported circumstances.

There have been infections at 24 websites in Alberta, together with 18 industrial operations. There are the identical variety of outbreaks in Ontario, although the variety of birds killed there’s decrease, at 425,000.

The Alberta authorities has stated it’s serving to the Canadian Meals Inspection Company with testing and mapping, stressing that fast detection can assist restrict the unfold.

There have been circumstances in seven flocks in B.C., together with one industrial operation and 6 others listed as small flocks. About 53,000 birds have been misplaced within the province.

Final month, B.C. ordered industrial poultry farmers with greater than 100 birds to maneuver their flocks indoors till the spring migration ends in Might.

Specialists stress the meals provide is protected and there’s little danger to folks, however the rising infections involving the H5N1 pressure have forged a shadow over the poultry trade.

The Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council, or CPEPC, says the European Union and 30 nations have restricted imports of Canadian poultry, starting from bans to extra targetted geographic restrictions. The EU and the US have enacted measures that apply solely to merchandise from inside 10-kilometre zones round every contaminated farm.

There have additionally been circumstances of the H5N1 pressure in the US, Europe and Asia.

The Canadian poultry trade says biosecurity measures put in place after 16 million birds have been culled in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley throughout a earlier outbreak in 2004 have labored to restrict the harm.

The CPEPC says simply 0.17 per cent of economic laying hens and 0.17 per cent of economic egg farms have been affected by the flu in Canada, in contrast with about 8.7 per cent of economic laying hens in the US.

Hen Farmers of Canada says solely 5 to 11 per cent of home manufacturing is normally earmarked for export.

The outbreak has additionally prompted the SPCA in British Columbia to ask folks to take down their birdfeeders to scale back the danger to wild birds, which may be killed by the virus but in addition move it alongside to farmed poultry.

The CFIA recommends that anybody with yard chook feeders and baths periodically clear them, and that anybody who comes into contact with chook droppings totally wash their palms with cleaning soap and heat water.

The CFIA additionally recommends homeowners of small flocks, together with yard chickens, and pet birds confine them till the migration interval ends, with a view to forestall contact with wild birds and decrease the danger of illness transmission.

That is the weekly Western Canada e-newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller. When you’re studying this on the net, or it was forwarded to you from another person, you possibly can join it and all Globe newsletters right here.