Since November 5, French breeders have been required to “shelter” their outdoor poultry to avoid any contact with migratory birds that can transmit the virus.
Article written by
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
The bird flu epidemic is spreading. In this context, the Council of State rejected Friday, December 24 the appeals of the Peasant Confederation and associations against the confinement imposed on ducks, geese and field hens. “Despite the seriousness of the damage invoked by the applicants (…), it follows from the investigation that the contested measures were decided upon to deal with a particularly serious and urgent health risk”, explains the highest administrative court in its ordinance.
Since November 5, French breeders have been required to “sheltering” of their outdoor poultry to avoid contact with migratory birds that can transmit the avian influenza virus. The government thus hopes to avoid the repetition of last winter’s episode. Bird flu had spread like wildfire in farms in the South West and was only stopped at the cost of slaughtering more than 3.5 million poultry, mostly ducks.
While the confinement of poultry used to moving outside is experienced as heartbreak by breeders, the Council of State justified its decision by the highly pathogenic nature of the disease, potentially transmissible to humans. It relied on opinions from the National Health Security Agency (ANSES) which underline the “high risk” contamination of poultry on outdoor runs. He also noted the rapid increase in the number of affected households. On the day of the hearing, France had eight outbreaks of bird flu, all in the North. This Friday, 17 farms are affected, more than half of them in the South-West. The latest, a breeding of more than 15,000 ducks, under shelter, which went to fattening in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.