The Côtes-d'Armor prefecture announced, this Friday, November 15, that it had ordered “the depopulation” of a poultry farm in Lamballe-Armor, located “near the coast”. A decision taken on Tuesday, November 12, by prefectural decree, and implemented this Friday by the services of the Departmental Directorate for Population Protection (DDPP), with the support of a specialized company. In total, 1,000 chickens and 500 ducks, all “illegally detained”, were subject to “destruction by euthanasia”, stipulates the prefect's order.
According to the prefecture, this Lambalsie farm did not respect biosecurity or animal welfare measures. Called to order on several occasions since 2018 and, “in the absence of compliance”, the breeder had been forced, in 2021, already by prefectural decree, “to put an end to the placement of animals in its facilities.
Roaming ducks and muddy enclosure
Three years later, “thanks to checks carried out on the farm”, then a disaster (in which 1,000 chicks died on October 25, 2024), it was noted “the presence of animals in large numbers number”. And this, despite the ban on keeping animals imposed on the breeder.
But these checks also made it possible to reveal “the presence of wandering ducks, as well as that of ducks parked in the open air in a muddy enclosure with unmaintained vegetation”, reveals the prefectural decree.
The risk of avian influenza
The prefecture also emphasizes that, for several months, “the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI) – the risk of which has just been raised from moderate to high by ministerial decree – has been present in avifauna and outbreaks have been recently detected in breeding in the neighboring departments of Côtes-d'Armor. In order to control the risk of the spread of wild fauna towards farms, but also between farms, the sheltering of poultry and strict compliance with biosecurity measures are now essential throughout the metropolitan territory,” insist state services.
