Canada is once again free of avian influenza following a bird flu outbreak at a turkey breeding farm north of Winnipeg last fall.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced May 5 that Canada has regained its disease-free status for notifiable avian influenza, according to World Organization for Animal Health regulations.
In November, the CFIA discovered that birds at a turkey farm in the Rural Municipality of Rockwood had tested positive for a low pathogenic strain of H5N2 avian flu.
CFIA and Manitoba government employees destroyed more than 8,000 turkeys at the infected farm. Several other turkey operations, which had contact with the infected farm, were temporarily quarantined as a precaution.
The outbreak generated international headlines, but Manitoba Turkey Producers chair Bill Uruski said turkey farmers in the province learned a valuable lesson.
“As farmers, we cannot be overly vigilant … as far as biosecurity is concerned,” he said.
“We are certainly communicating that to all the (turkey) producers.”
He said the farmer whose flock was euthanized will speak to Manitoba turkey producers at a meeting this fall.
The infected farm has returned to business, he added.
“They’ve gone through the protocol of clean and disinfect and their … flock is on farm now,” Uruski said.
“(But) those birds have to be at least 28 weeks of age before they are (ready) to go into production. It’s not a commercial operation where every 12 to 13 weeks you get another flock.”
He said wild birds likely transmitted the disease to the turkeys, but the CFIA isn’t expected to ever determine the exact cause of the outbreak.
“How it actually got into the barn? No, I don’t think we’ll ever really know.”
