900,000 animals were slaughtered in one month

The epizootic experienced a lull in March and April, before resuming, much earlier than usual… Since the beginning of May 2023, avian flu has made a massive reappearance. Nearly 60 sources of contamination have thus been counted between the Gers and the Landes.

>> Avian flu: “Nothing indicates that the virus represents a very significant risk for humans in the short term”, estimates specialist Jean-Luc Guérin

“We are in the management of a huge crisis, a real viral fire”depicts the president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Gers Bernard Malabirade who admits that “the situation is out of control”. According to the agricultural union Modef, 900,000 animals have been slaughtered in total in the three departments of the South-West since the beginning of May. A provisional figure: new outbreaks are regularly identified. During this 2022-23 epizootic, six million poultry were slaughtered in France according to the Ministry of Agriculture, after the slaughter of 22 million poultry in 2021-2022.

“Intervene in a supportive and preventive manner”

This crisis comes at a time when the farms welcome the ducklings which are usually used to garnish the tables from September until the end of the year celebrations. “The ducks of the month of June are the ducks of Christmas. So the subject of the duck and the festive foie gras, it is now that it must be settled”insisted Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA on Wednesday May 24 on franceinfo.

If the obligation is given to them to slaughter their breeding, the financial situation will be catastrophic at the end of the year. In 2022, the sector had already experienced a 30% drop in foie gras on supermarket shelves.

For the moment, protection zones are in place around each source of contamination identified, pending a vaccine that the Ministry of Agriculture hopes to deploy before the fall. “A number of breeders are hit for the second time, so we need to intervene quickly in support and in a preventive way”, called Arnaud Rousseau who wants this vaccination to take place as soon as possible. But there is the question of funding, “around 30 million euros”, according to the FNSEA. “In the end, it can’t be the breeder who finances on his own”, observed its president.