Make sure you are not purchasing any meat that has as it's source CANADA.

Authorities will cull 275,000 birds from avian flu-infected farms in B.C.
at 0:41 on March 25, 2004, EST.
TERRI THEODORE
VANCOUVER (CP) - All the chickens and turkeys on farms in a hot zone infected with avian flu - some 275,000 birds - will be killed in an effort to stop the spread of the disease, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said Wednesday.

The move comes after two more farms in the Fraser Valley, just east of Vancouver, were discovered to be infected with the virus, bringing the number of infected farms to five.

Cornelius Kiley, regional veterinary officer for the agency, said tests have shown the strain of virus found on the first three farms was the more rare and more aggressive form of the H7 avian flu virus.

"This is a new experience for us and we must deal with it aggressively," Kiley said at a news conference.

Once the cull is finished and including the birds that have already died from the disease, 365,000 birds will be dead.

Chicken farmers in British Columbia's Fraser Valley agree that all the birds in the area around five farms infected with avian flu will have to die to stop the spread of the disease.

Vic Regier of the B.C. Hatching Egg Commission said farmers accept the move as a necessary step.

"We want to get control of the virus so that it doesn't move outside that zone," he said.

"We believe that if we depopulate that zone, it'll maintain it. We talk about the other parts of the province and the valley and we're hoping to keep it out of there."

Regier said the number of birds to be culled only represents less than five per cent of the total chicken population in British Columbia.

"We're not talking about a lot of birds here," he said.

Instead, the industry wants to do whatever it takes to eradicate the disease, which has prompted several Asian countries to close their borders to Canadian chicken.

All owners of birds depopulated will be compensated.

Ten farms and 33 smaller flocks will be involved in the cull.

The H7 strain of avian flu is not considered dangerous to humans and is not the same strain that has killed almost two dozen people in Asia.

The virus does not transfer into the food chain.

Simrita Dosanjh, spokeswoman for the Fraser Health Authority, said the authority is keeping an eye on 19 farm workers from the five farms.

Humans infected with the H7 strain of avian flu may suffer flu-like symptoms.

"There is no health risk to the general public," Dosanjh said.

She said the workers will be contacted daily for a week by a public health nurse.

"We just monitor them and then, if they become symptomatic, then we would proceed to take cultures and so on," she said.

"We're not talking about a lot of people. It's a limited group. At this time, they're not symptomatic."

Authorities imposed a control zone on parts of southern British Columbia earlier this month.

Regulations restrict the movement of any bird in captivity, including pets, day-old chicks and hatching eggs.

Farmers must obtain permits to move the birds and any bird product - including eggs - out of the area that stretches to the North Shore mountains, west to the ocean, south to the U.S. border and east to the town of Hope.

Among the operations to be culled is one important turkey breeder and a chicken farm that supplies a majority of eggs supplied to B.C. chicken producers.

But Regier said he didn't think consumers will notice a drop in supply.

"It'll mean that if we're short of local supply, for example chicks for the table industry, then we'll have to get them from outside the province," he said.

"We believe that can be done. We don't believe there will be a shortage. We'll get co-operation from other parts of Canada and North America.

"I don't think we have to worry about it."

Kiley said consumers should be comfortable that the industry is doing everything it can to deal with the crisis.

"The industry understands biosecurity. Obviously, they are going to understand it even more from this day forward out of this entire experience," he said.

"Every farmer that protects his or her farm by having their own biosecurity measures in place is protecting the entire industry."

http://www.940news.com/news/news.cfm?dir=national&file=n032502A&n=1