Environment

Bird Flu Is Back

by Barbara McPherson | January 23, 2009 at 10:14 am

116 views | 33 Recommendations | 6 comments

Local radio station CKNW is reporting that a turkey barn in Abbotsford, BC is in quarantine. They are reporting that the birds testing positive for bird flu antibodies. The flock numbers approximately 50 000. As a result of the positive test other poultry operations within a three kilometer radius are also under a quarantine order.

2004 saw an outbreak of bird flu in the Fraser Valley and millions of birds were slaughtered to contain the spread of this disease. Generally people do not get sick from this strain of influenza but it is deadly to poultry. At that time, many people with small, healthy flocks lost their birds to the sweep. Exotic and rare birds were also slaughtered in the attempt to contain this disease.

If bird flu is confirmed in this case, millions of dollars in livestock will be lost to the producers.

Now ask yourself this question. What sort of conditions are turkeys living in? When you put 50 000 birds in one building what measures must be taken to prevent massive loss of life? How much antibiotics do these birds need on an ongoing basis? When the manure is left on the floor until the birds are moved out for slaughter how much manure do the poults eat? Now ask yourself if that's the kind of meat you want to eat.

Factory farms are a blight on the countryside. They produce massive amounts of manure and stink. They are not sustainable. They are very profitable.

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Paschen

at 10:20 on January 23rd, 2009

It never left. It is in large part thanks to the WHO and the UN that we have not had a major outbreak yet. They did and are doing a great job trying to contain it.

Amy Judd

at 13:09 on January 23rd, 2009

Oh no - I remember that incident in 2004 - it was awful.

I can't believe this is happening again.

car1edb

at 16:55 on January 23rd, 2009

Just to clarify - this isn't the full on deadly h5N1 flu, but are lower down in the H5 and H7 categories of virus. But they say are both highly susceptible to mutation, why they put in some 3km zoning.

from the province: "there are about 16 subtypes of Avian influenza, but only H5 and H7 subtypes are reportable to the World Health Organization's animal-health authority".

Still kinda worrying though.

Barbara McPherson

at 09:33 on January 24th, 2009

You're absolutely right. Some of the people involved in catching and slaughtering the chickens has some health concerns, but most people are immune to this strain. Many water birds are carriers of the virus but remain well. The big commercial operations blame the migratory birds for spreading the flu to their flocks, but funnily enough, the outside, healthy backyard flocks don't seem to get sick. In Ontario, they have passed laws to compel small farmers to keep their birds under cover and caged inside small mesh to prevent flu.

The really nasty flu varieties like those that we get flu shots to prevent are likely mutated forms of bird flu. The worst case scenario is a combination of bird and swine flu which can happen where pigs and poultry are kept in close proximity. The Spanish flu may have been one of these unfortunate combinations.

Terri Potratz

at 12:18 on January 26th, 2009

I've created a Bird Flu feature channel where new developments on this topic can be tracked.

The latest update is that 60,000 birds from the Abbotsford farm will be slaughtered today:

On Sunday, CFIA officials were preparing to euthanize the birds by sealing the barns and flooding them with carbon dioxide. Workers will then mix the carcasses with organic material in the barn to raise the temperature as high as 50 C during decomposition.

"That heating process is what inactivates the virus," Sandra Stephens, a CFIA veterinary program specialist, told the Canadian Press in an interview.

Once the birds are euthanized and disposed of, CFIA will oversee the cleaning and disinfection of the farm's barns, vehicles and equipment.

23 additional farms in nearby areas are under quarantine.

Barbara McPherson

at 15:18 on January 26th, 2009

I wonder what the neighbours will think about the smell of 60 000 rotting turkeys. This is an obvious downside to the cheap flesh produced by these factories. the owners should be required to incinerate at high temp. these birds.