42 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been confirmed in the department since mid-February. Many sites supply young poultry to farms all over France.
Some 215 poultry farms in Deux-Sèvres will be depopulated in order to “protect” from “breeding sitesfrom the department of an avian flu contamination. 42 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza have been confirmed in Deux-Sèvres since the arrival of the virus in this department in mid-February and one million poultry have been slaughtered there, according to the prefecture, which ensures that “the progression of the epidemic remains under control“but that she is”keep on going“.
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The number of slaughters will increase because the prefecture launched in mid-April a second phase of “depopulation» of farms in order to «prioritize the protection of breeding sitesmany in this department and which supply young poultry to farms all over France. “We make a kind of sanitary cordon around sensitive sites in which we slaughter farms that are healthy, in which there have been no detected cases, to be sure that there is not an outbreak around them. a hatchery or breeding site“, explained the prefect Emmanuelle Dubée. 215 farms are involved in this second phase. The first had led to slaughter in 41 farms.
A “necessary” measure
For Emmanuelle Dubée, “this measure is necessary to guarantee the future of the sector» and the sustainability of the poultry farming activity. It’s about making sure that “all farms can have little chicks and ducklings again to be able to start again in good conditions“. “It is obviously hard to hear for the breeders concerned even if they are partly well compensated“, she conceded.
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The Vendée and its neighboring departments, such as Deux-Sèvres, include 836 households out of the 1,300 confirmed in breeding in France since this winter, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture. At the end of March, more than ten million poultry had been slaughtered in France. The epizootic is also spreading in the Dordogne, where 34 outbreaks have already been confirmed since the appearance of the virus less than three weeks ago and where 240,000 poultry have been slaughtered, according to the prefecture. The virus is also present in the neighboring departments of Lot (35 outbreaks), Lot-et-Garonne (4), Corrèze (3) and Haute-Vienne (1). On the other hand, the situation has stabilized in the first large breeding area affected this winter, the south-west (Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Gers, Hautes-Pyrénées).