The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has shrunk a zone restricting the movement of poultry products around farms where avian flu has been detected after the discovery of a highly pathogenic virus last December
The 10-kilometre restricted zone – which is intended to stop the spread of any cases of avian influenza – now uses Highway 1, rather than the Fraser River, as its northern border. The western border of the zone, in Aldergrove, has also been altered.
Avian influenza was only detected at one farm located north of the highway. The virus caused the deaths of more than 200,000 birds.
The CFIA says the moves “reflect quarantines being lifted from individual premises.”
The agency says the primary control zone that encompasses all of Southern British Columbia “will remain in effect until the CFIA determines that movement controls are no longer required to prevent the spread of avian influenza.
“This determination will consider factors such as disease surveillance testing and progress on the destruction and disposal of infected birds and complete disinfection of premises,” the CFIA said in a news release.
The movement of birds and poultry products within the primary control zone requires the CFIA to issue a permit.
More information is available online at inspection.gc.ca.
