the essential
The threat of the epidemic spreading is getting closer in the Hautes-Pyrénées.
Thunderclap at Lake Puydarrieux. A little more than two weeks after the health authorities decided to raise the risk level of avian flu from “moderate” to “high” on November 8, the threat of the spread of the epidemic is becoming clearer in the Hautes -Pyrenees.
The Hautes-Pyrénées prefecture has just confirmed “that a common crane found dead this month, around Lake Puydarrieux, was infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAI)”.
In our edition of Monday, November 11, we reported on the particularly sensitive situation around Lake Puydarrieux, with a report from the black chicken breeder of Astarac Bigorre Thierry Dubarry.
“No protection zone for the moment”
Contacted by us, Michel Dubosc, elected “referent” for the poultry sector at the Hautes-Pyrénées Chamber of Agriculture, is not surprised by the discovery of this dead bird affected by avian influenza “in an area particularly sensitive where the activity of migratory birds is very high, especially this season. However, the situation does not currently require a zoning order to demarcate a protection and surveillance zone. reinforced since there are no cases detected in a farm.
On the other hand, it is even more fundamental to respect the reinforced biosecurity measures already implemented in mainland France since November 8. In addition to “sheltering poultry, protecting their food and water,” underlines Michel Dubosc, “the ban on allowing outside visitors to visit our farms and the need to limit exchanges between breeders as much as possible. , must be amplified in the coming days.
I hope that the epidemic situation will stop at this stage, as in the Landes where after the detection of the first two cases, there was no explosion of avian influenza.”
Remember that when a case is detected on a farm, the homes are depopulated and, if necessary, the animals are preventively killed within a perimeter defined by prefectural decree, and the sites are cleaned and disinfected.
In establishments close to infected establishments, regulated protection and surveillance zones are established: increased surveillance, reinforced biosecurity measures with sheltering of birds, ban on poultry movements, restriction of feathered game hunting activities “.
