Canada: No bans expected from Newfoundland avian flu outbreak

Neither federal nor international animal health officials expect to see import bans imposed on Canadian poultry coming out of an avian flu outbreak at a farm on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Wednesday reported a confirmed outbreak of a highly-pathogenic (‘high-path’) strain of H5N1 avian influenza at an exhibition farm in the province’s southeast. It marks Canada’s first high-path outbreak since 2015. The exhibition farm houses multiple species of birds and other animals and does not produce birds for sale, CFIA said. Thus, it’s considered “non-poultry” by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). Ontario’s Feather Board Command Centre, an industry agency that tracks both domestic and international bird disease outbreaks, said Wednesday the Newfoundland farm’s stock had included chickens, turkeys, emus, geese, ducks, guinea fowl and peafowl. According to the report filed with the OIE, the flu strain killed 360 birds on the farm and ...