Good morning. This is James Keller in Calgary.
A highly contagious strain of avian influenza has infected flocks of birds in almost every province, but Alberta’s poultry industry is bearing the brunt of the epidemic.
At least 900,000 birds are dead in Alberta, out of 1.7 million nationwide. Every province except Prince Edward Island reports cases.
There were infections at 24 sites in Alberta, including 18 commercial operations. There are the same number of outbreaks in Ontario, although the number of birds killed there is lower – 425,000.
The Alberta government has said it is assisting the Canadian Food Inspection Agency with testing and mapping, stressing that rapid detection could help curb the spread.
There are cases in seven herds in British Columbia, including one commercial operation and six others listed as small herds. About 53,000 birds have been lost in the province.
Last month, BC ordered commercial poultry farmers with more than 100 birds to move their flocks indoors by the end of spring migration in May.
Experts emphasize that food supplies are safe and low risk for humans, but growing infections involving the H5N1 strain are casting a shadow over the poultry industry.
The Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors Council, or CPEPC, says the European Union and 30 countries have limited imports of Canadian poultry, ranging from bans to more targeted geographical restrictions. The EU and the United States have introduced measures that apply only to products from 10-kilometer zones around each infected farm.
There are also cases of the H5N1 strain in the United States, Europe and Asia.
A Canadian poultry farm says biosecurity measures introduced after the destruction of 16 million birds in Fraser Valley in British Columbia during a previous outbreak in 2004 have worked to reduce the damage.
The CPEPC says that only 0.17% of commercial laying hens and 0.17% of commercial egg farms have been affected by influenza in Canada, compared to about 8.7% of laying hens in the United States.
Canadian chicken producers say only 5 to 11 percent of local production is usually for export.
The outbreak also prompted the SPCA in British Columbia to ask people to remove their bird feeders to reduce the risk of wild birds being killed by the virus, but also to pass it on to farm poultry.
The CFIA recommends that anyone with bird feeders and backyard baths clean them periodically and anyone who comes in contact with bird droppings wash their hands thoroughly with soap and warm water.
The CFIA also recommends that owners of small flocks, including backyard chickens and poultry, keep them until the end of the migration period to prevent contact with wild birds and reduce the risk of transmitting the disease.
This is the weekly newsletter of Western Canada, written by BC Editor Wendy Cox and head of Alberta’s office James Keller. If you read this online or have it sent to you by someone else, you can sign up for it and all the Globe newsletters here.
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