Avian flu spreads to second poultry farm in Victoria

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Authorities have confirmed avian influenza or bird flu has spread to a second poultry farm in Victoria. A new quarantine zone has been declared and agriculture Victoria vets are on the scene for another mass chicken cull.

Transcript

00:00The second outbreak of bird flu has been found.

00:04These two farms are owned by the same person.

00:07They're about 130 kilometres away from each other and testing's confirmed a H7 variety

00:14of bird flu at both of these farms.

00:16So these are strains of bird flu that we have seen in Australia before.

00:20They're in wild birds and where wild birds and chickens come in contact, this is a risk

00:25for the industry.

00:26So now it has been found at these property.

00:29The testing and the tracing has now found it at another property, this time at Terrain.

00:34We're going to see authorities spring into gear and perform a mass chicken cull because

00:39that's how they can get on top of the disease.

00:42But unfortunately, more than half a million chickens will have to die to try and control

00:46the spread of this disease.

00:47Yeah, obviously the biosecurity is of utmost importance.

00:51Just how concerned does the public need to be?

00:55Authorities are really forceful in trying to get out this message every time that chicken,

01:01meat and eggs are still safe to eat.

01:04There is no concern at all about the food supply.

01:07But I know from talking to farmers, they're really concerned.

01:10Farmers hundreds of kilometres away from these outbreaks saying that they're really worried

01:14about consumers stopping eating eggs and meat because fears of an outbreak like this.

01:21And this is at a time where bird flu has been moving quite extensively around the world.

01:25Bird strains, not this one here, but a different strain in America has been found in the dairy

01:30industry.

01:31There's been a couple of human cases there.

01:33It's also spread to Antarctica and into things like sea lions in South America.

01:38And with that heightened concern, authorities are pretty quick to say, hey, look, meat and

01:43eggs are still safe to eat.

01:45And as with everything, if you still have concerns after that, just if you cook it thoroughly,

01:50there is definitely no problem to you.

01:53So those are the messages coming out at the moment.

01:56OK, now we know that there has been a human case reported in Victoria this week, Australia's

02:01first ever case of the virus manifesting in a child returning from overseas.

02:05Is there any link between the two?

02:08No, it's been stressed quite vehemently from authorities that there is absolutely no link

02:14between the two.

02:15The return traveller had this this new strain, the H5N1, the concerning international strain.

02:21Authorities say they found that due to due to testing.

02:25And there is no concern to the public there from the return traveller.

02:28And that is a completely different strain to the one that's being found in farms in

02:32Victoria at the site.

02:34Well, at a similar time, the one on farms is from wild birds and it can get from wild

02:39birds to chickens.

02:40And it's devastating to that individual farmer.

02:42But to the wider industry, it's probably more of an expectation that this is the risk of

02:48raising chickens in Australia in 2024.

02:50That bird flu is there.

02:51This is our ninth outbreak since 1976.

02:54And this is a wild strain and and probably in a way a bit more comforting that it's a

03:00known strain and not this unexpected international one.

03:03Yeah, for sure.

03:04You mentioned, Warwick, that, you know, there are obviously mass culls going on at these

03:06two farms associated with the outbreaks and the industry is ensuring consumers that that

03:13eggs and the chicken is safe at this stage.

03:16How else is the industry responding to this?

03:19Yeah, so a lot of strict biosecurity measures are already in place at these farms.

03:24There are things like washes and showers and you've got to wipe things down as well to

03:28go on and off, particularly intensive chicken properties.

03:31But and you're going to see a lot more of this due to the risk of bird flu itself and

03:36a season of bird flu when the migratory birds are coming into Australia, heightening that

03:41risk.

03:42A lot of farms have already put in a lot of extra measures in place and an outbreak like

03:46this will make them put in even more.

03:48And whilst that's going on, testing and tracing, which a lot of people will remember from the

03:51COVID days in humans, is going on from Agriculture Victoria authorities on these farms.

03:56So any cars that have been to these farms are being checked to where they have gone

04:00and if they've gone to other poultry farms.

04:03And this farmer itself owns multiple locations.

04:06Two of them have infections, but there are other farms that they are going and checking

04:10as we speak.

04:11So we had that confirmed just a few minutes ago.

04:13So those authorities will be working deep into the weekend on issues like this.

Category

Transcript

Recommended