Restrictions to control the spread of avian flu in Ontario are being eased and may be removed by the end of July.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced this week that quarantines are no longer in effect in the avian influenza control zone in Ontario’s Oxford County.
The CFIA first detected H5 avian influenza in early April on a turkey farm near Woodstock, Ont. Approximately 45,000 birds were affected.
On April 18, the agency found a second case of bird flu at a chicken farm in Oxford County. The strain of the virus was more hazardous in that case, which involved 27,000 birds. The CFIA said it was the “highly pathogenic” H5N2 avian influence.
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A week later, the CFIA found another outbreak of H5N2 at a turkey farm, with 7,900 affected birds, again in Oxford County.
The CFIA said poultry on the three farms were euthanized.
The poultry barns had been cleaned and disinfected by late June and early July in accordance with CFIA protocols.
The quarantines for zones around the first and third cases of bird flu are now lifted, but the CFIA is still monitoring the second case.
“The CFIA continues to issue permits for the movement of birds and bird products from this zone,” the agency said in a release.
“If no new detections of avian influenza are reported during the waiting period (21 days after disinfection), the quarantine for IP2 will be lifted on July 29 and the (final) avian influenza control zone will be removed.”
robert.arnason@producer.com
