Quarantine continues on several southwestern Ontario poultry farms

Friday, June 26, 2015

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario’s more than 50 poultry farmers under quarantine after avian influenza was confirmed on three Oxford County poultry operations will have to wait a little longer before bird and equipment movement restrictions are lifted.

In a June 19 update, the Feather Board Command Centre said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency informed it “the original projected timelines are no longer accurate and that it may be several weeks before quarantines can be lifted.” The command centre is the poultry industry’s disease management organization.

The agency implemented two avian influenza quarantine zones, one in Oxford County and the other straddling Oxford County and Waterloo Region. Birds and equipment can only be moved out of the zones with CFIA-issued licenses.

Command centre chair Ingrid DeVisser says restrictions on bird placements in the quarantine zones have been lifted but farmers must notify the agency the placements are happening.

Since April, the agency has confirmed the virus on two turkey farms and a chicken broiler breeder operation. None of the other farms in the quarantine zones have it.

It was originally estimated the quarantines could come off by the end of this month. Now it looks like the quarantines will stay in place until mid-July, DeVisser says. The change in timelines “has to do with how far they are in the cleaning and disinfecting and how quickly they can do their testing as part of cleaning and disinfecting.”

Meanwhile, the command centre has cancelled some restrictions on poultry board activities and “regular business activities outside the quarantine zones have resumed,” such as farm audits and farmer meetings, the update says.

DeVisser says, “we’re trying to restrict the farm visits to one a day so there’s a chance (for auditors) to shower and change clothes in between.”

Summer and fall community events, such as fairs and shows that traditionally featured live birds, have suspended that practice “until the quarantines are lifted,” she says. BF