First in the department, this outbreak is the second in the South-West since the epizootic of last winter.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
She is back. An outbreak of avian influenza was detected in a duck farm in Landes, the main department producing foie gras, for the first time since the epizootic last winter, the Chamber of Agriculture reported Sunday, December 19. “It is located in Hastingues”, near Peyrehorade, on the border of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, told AFP Marie-Hélène Cazaubon, president of the Landes chamber of agriculture.
“The clinical signs left no room for doubt and it was decided to depopulate the farm (from Saturday) without waiting for the results (Sunday) of the final analysis”, she continues. This outbreak, not yet formalized by the prefecture or the Ministry of Agriculture, is the second detected in the South-West, the main production area of foie gras, since the bird flu epizootic that affected last winter 15 departments and led to the slaughter of 3.5 million farm poultry.
The first was detected this week in Manciet (Gers). It was then the eighth French breeding affected, after seven outbreaks reported in the Nord department since November 26. From the beginning of November, in order to avoid contact with migratory birds potentially carrying the virus, the health authorities had asked all outdoor and organic producers in mainland France to confine their poultry. “We are in a migratory corridor through which birds from northern Europe pass, where viral circulation is important in the avifauna, we must be very vigilant”, explained Marie-Hélène Cazaubon, herself a duck breeder.
The manager said to herself both “worry”, “because of the trauma experienced at the start of the year (2021), still very much in people’s minds and in terms of financial impact”,and “serene”, because “95% of breeders make health security efforts”. The Landes produce a quarter of French foie gras and have around 800 palmiped farms, especially ducks.