After Europe, Canada faces avian flu with migratory birds

In Quebec, several cases of avian flu have already been identified: more than six outbreaks have been observed in the province since the end of March, leading to the death of approximately 150,000 birds in less than a month because, as soon as a case is identified, an entire flock of poultry is euthanized to prevent the virus from spreading.

>> Avian flu: “The vaccine will be ready in June 2023”, announces Christiane Lambert, president of the FNSEA

This spread of avian flu worries the Eqcma, the Quebec poultry disease control team. “We still have a lot of cases, nothing for the first four months of the yearnotes agronomist Martin Pelletier, coordinator of Eqcma. And the migratory period towards the North will stretch until May-June probably. We know that with the intensity of environmental contamination, it is not just migratory birds that are infected. Resident bird species are now carriers or infected with the virus as well as some mammals.

The Eqcma therefore calls on Quebec breeders and producers to be vigilant. The government funds the organization to “strengthening the response capacity of the industry” in the event of avian flu and develop protocols when there are visitors to farms, for example, or delivery by truck.

A new phenomenon for Quebec

The first Quebec case was identified last year in April 2022 and a spread of this magnitude is even considered a new threat for America, while the pandemic has been affecting Europe for several years already.

This is also where it comes from, explains Martin Pelletier. “The strain that was present in Europe would have been introduced to America according to the hypothesis of crossing European and American migratory routes, perhaps in Greenland, therefore on common breeding grounds. We saw a gradual spread inland of the continent and which eventually spread through all the migratory routes”. In 2022, nearly seven million farmed birds had to be killed across Canada.