December 4, 2014

4 British Columbia farms hit by bird flu

Two more poultry farms in the British Columbia in Canada were placed under quarantine on December 3 following bird flu outbreaks, according to an Associated Press report.

Earlier a turkey farm in Abbotsford and a chicken farm in Chilliwack were placed under the same measure, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Tests were being conducted to determine the strain of the avian influenza virus, and results are expected today.

The AP report said all four infected farms were about 8 kilometres apart in Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver.

Some 11,000 turkeys were being raised in the Abbotsford farm, to be slaughtered for Christmas, and half of them died from bird flu, according to the report.

The Chilliwack farm, on the other hand, housed 7,000 chickens and around 1,000 of them died, the report said, adding that the numbers for the two latest quarantined farms were not available.

Jane Pritchard, British Columbia's chief veterinary officer, was quoted as saying the remaining birds would be euthanized using carbon dioxide and then composted.

In 2004, 42 poultry farms in Fraser Valley were also hit by bird flu outbreaks, necessitating the slaughter of 17 million chickens, turkeys and other domestic birds.