- ABBOTSFORD, B.C. --
The B.C. poultry industry got its wish Monday as the federal government
said it approved its proposal to kill about 19 million chickens and turkeys
throughout the Fraser Valley in a bid to wipe out contagious avian flu.
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- Agriculture Minister Bob Speller ordered the cull on
the recommendation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), "to
stop the spread of this disease and to stamp it out.''
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- Affected poultry farmers had told Speller and his B.C.
counterpart John van Dongen on Friday that it was the best way to get the
industry back on track.
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- The affected area is sweeping, extending from Greater
Vancouver to Hope, a two-hour drive east, north to the mountains and south
to the U.S. border.
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- "This is going to be devastating for the poultry
industry, not only farmers but others involved in the industry," said
Rick Thiessen, president of the B.C. Chicken Growers Association.
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- Many workers will have to be laid off and it could take
six to eight weeks for all the birds to be destroyed.
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- That would be followed by a period in which all farms
and associated equipment would be cleaned and disinfected.
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- Thiessen was unable to estimate how long it could take
before chicken producers are back in business.
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- But van Dongen estimated the down time would be about
six months.
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- "My understanding is restocking could occur in approximately
six months," he said. "Twenty-two weeks is the precise figure."
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- The infected poultry will be disposed of by incineration
or rendering and burial, said Thiessen.
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- While unusual, these poultry "depopulations"
are not unprecedented.
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- In Virginia two years ago, five million birds had to
be killed and in 1983, an outbreak in Pennsylvania was so bad all the chickens
in three states were killed.
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- The avian flu has also struck in Mexico in the 1990s,
Italy in 1999 and last year in the Netherlands.
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- "It's unfortunate that it has to happen but we feel
this is the best and quickest way for us to get back up and running,"
Thiessen said.
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- A representative sample of birds from each flock will
be tested for avian flu and contaminated flocks will be destroyed while
those that are virus-free will be slaughtered for food.
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- "While this is not a decision I take lightly, it
is a necessary measure to stop any further spread and to protect the long-term
viability of the poultry industry," Speller told a news conference
in Ottawa.
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- He said the government is working on the issue of compensation
for farmers who lose their flocks, but that will be dealt with later.
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- B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell said his government is working
with the federal government to expedite employment insurance for employees
who have lost their jobs.
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- "I'm confident they (Ottawa) share our concern for
families in the Fraser Valley," he said.
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- The B.C. poultry industry says it generates more than
$1 billion a year for the provincial economy and employs more than 5,000
people.
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- Eighty per cent of B.C.'s poultry products come from
the Fraser Valley.
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- Thiessen said a poultry shortage was unlikely because
chicken production on Vancouver Island and in the Interior were not affected
and measures are underway to bring in poultry from there and other provinces.
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- The CFIA also announced tightened bio-security measures
for Fraser Valley farms; it will become illegal for anyone to enter a poultry
farm without the operator's permission and decontamination of vehicles
will be mandatory.
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- The agency was under pressure to act after the contagion
spread beyond a 10-kilometre hot zone created around the first affected
farms in Abbotsford.
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- About 400,000 birds had already been ordered slaughtered,
yet the contamination spread beyond the original hot zone.
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- Two workers who dealt with the birds caught mild forms
of the H7 avian flu that is not considered a threat to humans. Both have
recovered.
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- Nearly 40 countries have restricted imports of Canadian
poultry due to the B.C. outbreak.
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- The European Union and United States continue to import
poultry from other parts of Canada.
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