Massive poultry slaughter campaigns continue in the Great West. The sudden outbreak of contamination of farms by avian flu, mainly in Vendée, requires the slaughter of millions of poultry to “sanitize the area”said Friday, March 11, the Ministry of Agriculture to the press.
Currently, “We have eliminated around 1.2 million animals and it is estimated that we still have three million animals that remain to be slaughtered” in the Great West. The extent of this crisis already exceeds that of last year, especially confined to the Southwest. Nearly 500 outbreaks had been identified in farms and 3.5 million poultry, mainly ducks, slaughtered.
This year, 611 outbreaks in farms were recorded on March 10, according to the ministry. More than four million poultry had been slaughtered even before the contaminations multiplied since the end of February in the Great West, triggering a new campaign of massive slaughter.
Contaminated “strategic” farms
“Means of disposal but also storage awaiting disposal (…) are gradually increased to meet the needs”, said the office of the Minister of Agriculture. The situation is especially critical in Vendée where the number of households has jumped in a few days: from 74 on Sunday to 187 at the last report.
The area has many poultry farms, some of which are considered “strategic” because producing animals for breeding. There are also hatcheries, “really key for the resumption of activity in a few weeks when we have cleaned up the area”notes the ministry.
A hatchery has already been contaminated, “all the others are protected and the objective is to create a buffer zone all around the hatcheries to preserve our productive capacities for the future”continues this source.
Since the beginning of November 2021, when the H5N1 virus began to circulate in several neighboring European countries, the government introduced the obligation of confinement for all French poultry. Breeders had to invest to provide shelter for their livestock. Without result, therefore, for those once more affected by the epizootic.