France recently found bird flu took precautionary measures, the southwestern department of Landes decided on December 24 to cull 40,000 ducks in order to prevent the outbreak of bird flu on farms. The French Ministry of Agriculture also raised the risk level of bird flu on December 23.
The southwestern French department of Landes decided on December 24 to cull 40,000 ducks in 25 local farms to prevent an outbreak of avian influenza on farms, after the H5N8 virus was found on seven farms, and decided to extend protection, mainly because the ducks are susceptible to the influenza virus. The French government will subsidize the loss of farms and line up psychologists to help breeders through the difficult times.
The departments of Landes and Corsica are among the priority areas for the epidemic. After the first H5N8 avian influenza outbreak was detected in Corsica on December 16, the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food raised the national avian influenza alert level to high, requiring breeders to take preventive measures such as confining poultry and disinfecting feeding grounds to avoid contact between poultry and migratory birds, and to take stricter health measures such as establishing a 3-kilometer protection zone and a 10-kilometer surveillance zone near the avian influenza outbreak. The measures have been taken.
So far, 18 avian influenza infected areas have been found in six French departments.
Currently, the French authorities are working to trace the origin of the avian flu outbreak. There are indications that the H5N8 virus is spreading among wildlife such as swans, gulls and other avian species.
In 2015 and 2017, there were large-scale outbreaks of avian influenza in southwestern France, where large numbers of birds were culled, resulting in economic losses of hundreds of millions of euros.
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