Oxford's poultry farmers can breath a sigh of relief as the final avian flu quarantine zone has been lifted
The nightmare is likely over for poultry producers in Oxford County as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is has officially lifted the final quarantine zone today.
Two zones had been set up in Oxford after the H5 virus was detected at a farm in early April. The first zone was set up immediately and then a second one was established when the H5 strain was located at another farm outside the quarantine. During the mess a third farm inside one of the zones also had H5 and a total of over 80 000 turkeys and chickens were destroyed. 54 farms in Oxford were impacted by the quarantine zones.
Heart FM spoke with Dan Veldeman who owns and operates Veldeman Poultry Farms in the north end of Oxford County. He tells Heart FM the work they did to stop the spread was amazing considering the devastation H5 caused in the United States.
"Very good systems in place on farms to protect us from this, and I think that says enough on its own how good of a job we do compared to our counterparts in the US who got hit real hard. Three was bad for Oxford County, but we were able to contain it and I feel really good about that."
The financial impact for the farms who were hit with the H5 strain is not known at this time and Veldeman says they may be eligible for some help from the CFIA or through insurance.
"For the farms that got hit, if we go back to 2004 when we first had it in Canada in B.C. CFIA was involved there. There is a program there that does compensate farmers for C and D - for cleaning and disinfecting - and for putting down your flock. It didn't compensate enough. So through negotiations we've been able to secure better financial assistance for the farms that do get it."
Now that the zones have been lifted poultry farmers still have to wait 90 days for Ontario to be declared free of avian influenza as far as the world exports go.
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