The tide began to turn last week for British Columbia’s poultry industry after being ravaged by avian influenza in the Fraser Valley.
No new cases of the highly contagious disease had been found in the past two weeks and only one infected flock was found during the past month.
“We’re encouraged by the situation right now,” said Cornelius Kiley, a Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesperson.
“We do believe it’s under control.”
Close to 19 million birds had to be destroyed because of the disease outbreak.
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The majority of those were sent for processing for human consumption, but most of the poultry from the infected farms was incinerated.
Efforts now are on cleaning and decontaminating the farms where infection was found. The earliest that restocking can begin is 21 days after decontamination is completed.
Monitoring continues to look for any cases of infection that may remain.
“We’re not letting our guard down,” said Kiley.
“We remain alert to the possibility that we could find other infected premises.”
The disease epidemic has cost the B.C. poultry industry more than $40 million. With most poultry operations in the valley temporarily out of production, the losses continue to rise. Most B.C. chicken farmers are located in the Fraser Valley.
Thiessen said it could take up to a year for the provincial poultry industry to fully rebuild. Part of the challenge will be finding enough chickens and eggs for that effort.
The CFIA confirmed the presence of highly pathogenic avian influenza in British Columbia in early March. The infection was eventually found on 42 commercial and 11 backyard premises.
