Deadly bird flu wipes out West Kootenay bird flock – BC News

Peggy Ife knew something was wrong the moment she walked into the chicken coop on her Burton-area farm on April 21.

“We saw a [dead] a bird here and a bird there, about five or six,” he said. “We thought something had gotten into the yard. And we found a hole in the fence. So we thought that was it. We cleaned up the birds and put the others back in the coop.”

But the next day, the birds continued to show signs of stress: some showed no interest in eating or were huddled in the corners of the coop.

“I knew something was wrong,” she says. “I call them ‘my girls,’ I spend enough time with my children.”

Then more began to die.

“Friday night I found a pair on the floor that didn’t look good and I thought, OK, this seems to be getting past the ‘stress’ phase,” Ife recalls. “Then they started to literally drop dead.”

When inspectors from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) arrived the following Monday morning, he had lost nearly 60 of his 70 birds.

It hasn’t been an easy time, and having to slaughter his entire herd is “devastating.”

“I have birds since 2006. One that just passed away was born here in 2012. I have a 14-year-old goose. My children usually die of old age,” she says.

Inspectors came (“Very nice people, lots of information,” she says) and took samples from her birds. A few days later, she got the news: her birds had H5N1, the virulent strain of bird flu.

The remaining handful of Ife birds had to be euthanized, as a measure to stop the spread of the virus to more areas.

“My husband keeps looking at me, to see if I’m okay,” Ife said. the voice of the valley the day before receiving the news. “I’m holding on, but the more I think about what’s going to happen, I’m sorry, when the time comes, I can’t be the one to leave my babies.”

Ife posted her story on several community Facebook pages and word spread to hundreds of poultry farmers in the voice of the valley readers’ area to be on the lookout for avian influenza.

Avian influenza or ‘bird flu’ is a contagious and deadly virus that can make birds sick or die. There are two strains of the disease, one mild and one virulent. The Ife flock caught the latest, H5N1, which was thought to be coming north with the spring migration of wild birds.

Ife says that he suspects that this is how his birds caught him.

“My wild bird feeders were empty for a few weeks so I decided to be nice and fill them up to feed the wild birds. And I have a lot of feeders,” she says.

Farm officials are urging backyard or small flock owners to remain vigilant and take appropriate preventative measures.

“Measures include eliminating or reducing opportunities for poultry to encounter wild birds, reducing human access to the flock, and increasing cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing of all things (including clothing and footwear) upon entry. to areas where flocks are housed,” recommends the CFIA. .

The Ife herd is not the only case of bird flu in BC. CFIA officials announced a week earlier a confirmed case in a poultry flock in Kelowna. A dead bald eagle was also found on the Lower Continent.

That’s where the biggest concern lies: The lower Fraser Valley is home to the province’s poultry industry. The last time bird flu hit, in 2004, 17 million birds had to be euthanized to save the industry.

Avian influenza is rare in humans and usually does not spread easily from person to person.

“During an outbreak of avian influenza in poultry, the risk to the general public is very low,” says the CFIA. “Most avian influenza viruses cannot spread easily from birds to people or from person to person. However, any new influenza virus in the human population is cause for concern because of its potential to change and adapt for easier transmission between people.”

Meanwhile, Ife is pleading with his fellow poultry keepers in the region to do the right thing: eliminate sources of interaction between wild and domestic birds, and report any dead wild birds they may spot.

“If you have feeders for wild birds, remove them,” she says. “If you want to live in the wild, there is always a chance that something will be caught. But if you have a race, make sure you don’t have bird feeders, and if you feed yours outside, make sure they clean it out before the wild birds come in. Bring your bird’s water source inside.”

While being ordered to slaughter his birds is difficult, Ife says he did the right thing by reporting it.

“I understand why people wouldn’t want to report, because of that,” she says. “But if they don’t know where it’s happening, they can’t stop it from spreading.”