AR-News: Canada to Cull 19 Mln Birds in Bird Flu Outbreak

[jim robertson]

Canada to Cull 19 Mln Birds in Bird Flu Outbreak

By Gilbert Le Gras

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada said on Monday it would slaughter some 19 million 
chickens, turkeys and other poultry in British Columbia's Fraser Valley to 
halt the spread of bird flu.


"It is becoming clear that the rapid spread of the virus requires much more 
aggressive action to minimize its additional spread," Agriculture Minister 
Bob Speller told reporters. He said he was working on a compensation package 
for farmers.


"The depopulation effort will take some time... I am optimistic, though, 
that this new measure will be effective in stopping the spread of the 
virus," Speller said.


Avian influenza has been diagnosed on 18 poultry farms in the Fraser Valley 
east of Vancouver and officials said the cull would cover 15 million 
chickens on about 600 farms.


Although the strain of the virus does not cause serious illness in humans -- 
two farm workers suffered mild illnesses that doctors believe were 
contracted from the birds -- one health official said last week the 
government wants to eradicate it before it mutates into a more serious 
strain.


The first Canadian farm with the bird flu had a low pathogenic virus but 
officials said it mutated into a highly pathogenic one within two weeks.


"Had we known the highly pathogenic nature of the virus immediately, I 
suspect the situation now would be completely different," Canadian Food 
Inspection Agency animal health expert Jim Clarke said.


An outbreak of a different strain of the highly contagious virus in Asia has 
caused at least 24 deaths and prompted the slaughter of tens of millions of 
fowl.


British Columbia's government estimates its poultry sector is worth over 
C$300 million ($230 million) at the farm gate.


"The people in this area will likely be out of production for a minimum of 
half a year," said Mike Dungate, general manager of the Chicken Farmers of 
Canada lobby group.


The European Union (news - web sites) last week eased a blanket ban on 
Canadian poultry imports imposed after the first cases of avian flu were 
discovered. British Columbia is a minor exporter to the world market, well 
behind Quebec and Ontario.


Some 84 percent of the province's poultry output is in the Fraser Valley, in 
southwestern British Columbia.


The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has already banned the shipment of 
chickens out of the region.


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>
>             BUSH ADMINISTRATIOIN PRESSES JAPAN TO READMIT U.S. BEEF
>
>             WASHINGTON, DC, April 5, 2004 (ENS) - The U.S. Department of
>Agriculture (USDA) is anxious to begin exporting beef Japan once again, and
>is pressuring the Japanese government to lift the ban on U.S. beef imports
>that was imposed last December. The ban was imposed by Japan and some 40
>other countries when one Washington state cow was found to have the fatal
>brain wasting disease known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or
>mad cow disease.
>
>             http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2004/2004-04-05-02.asp
>
>
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