The latest report from the Ministry of Agriculture shows 61 outbreaks of avian influenza in France on January 1, including 48 in the Landes; An additional 400,000 ducks are in the process of being slaughtered.
Le Monde avec AFP
More than 200,000 ducks have already been slaughtered in France to stem the progression of avian influenza in farms, and around 400,000 are on the way to be, according to a report released Tuesday, January 5, by the Ministry of Agriculture to Agence France-Presse . Some 100,000 ducks were slaughtered inside the identified sources of contamination, while 104,000 were subjected to preventive slaughter around these centers, announced the head of veterinary services and deputy director general of food. , Loïc Evain. “There are about 400,000 remaining to be slaughtered” preventively, he added.
The latest report from the Ministry of Agriculture reports 61 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (commonly known as avian flu) in France on January 1, 2021, including 48 in the Landes, which has a large number of geese and duck farms intended for the production of foie gras.
“We are facing an exceptional episode”
The authorities have decided to preventively slaughter all the poultry raised within a radius of one kilometer around an identified outbreak. Between one and three kilometers around the outbreak, “all palmipeds, whether or not claustrated” are slaughtered, as are other types of poultry “when they are not claustrated,” said Mr. Evain. -format = “inread” aria-hidden = “true”>
“We are facing an exceptional episode with a very, very contagious virus” which “affects free-range farms but not only”, underlined the ministerial official. “Experts are gathered at this very moment” to assess the situation, he continued: “If the spread of the virus continues, we will have to take even more drastic measures.” These measures will be “based on a scientific basis, absolutely essential to explain to the farmers concerned the relevance of the decisions that we take “, he specified.
In a press release Tuesday, the General Confederation of Aviculture (CFA) , affiliated with the FNSEA, believes that it is “urgent that the State reinforce its means of action on the ground, in collaboration with the sector, to act as closely and as quickly as possible” in order to contain the H5N8 virus . The agricultural unions Confédération paysanne and Modef denounce the preventive slaughter of healthy animals, deeming them “as ineffective in terms of health as they are morally unacceptable”.