VICTORIA – Farmers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley are facing “intense disease pressure,” with an outbreak of bird flu on commercial farms that the agriculture minister says is concerning.
VICTORIA – Farmers in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley are facing “intense disease pressure,” with an outbreak of bird flu on commercial farms that the agriculture minister says is concerning.
Lana Popham says bird flu usually lines up with bird migration seasons, but the latest infections on farms with the H5N1 virus have been consistent throughout the year.
Seven commercial poultry farms have been quarantined with bird flu since Nov. 16 in Abbotsford and Chilliwack, the same area where 17 million birds were slaughtered in 2004 to prevent the spread of the flu.
Popham says the federal Canadian Food Inspection Agency takes the initiative when a farm reports an infection, but BC’s chief veterinarian has been proactive in helping prevent the spread of the disease.
He says the testing lab works seven days a week with a capacity for about 300 tests a day.
The minister says the inspection agency has protocols in place to deal with infected farms and this often means “depopulation” or the herds will be culled.
He says the situation is not as bad as in 2004, when millions of birds were destroyed.
“And we hope it doesn’t come to that,” Popham added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 22, 2022.
The Canadian press