The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed the presence of the highly pathogenic H7N3 avian influenza virus in a broiler breeder barn northwest of Regina.
About 50,000 birds at Pedigree Poultry will be destroyed in the next few days. A three-kilometre quarantine has been established around the barn and one other commercial poultry operation, at a nearby Hutterite colony, is being monitored.
CFIA spokesperson Sandra Stephens said the virus does not pose a risk to humans. The hens were not headed for slaughter and the virus would not survive in eggs going to a hatchery, she said.
Stephens also said the isolation of Saskatchewan’s poultry barns, compared to the situation in Abbotsford, B.C. several years ago, is a positive factor in control efforts.
