Canadian avian influenza control zone lifted

The three-kilometer avian influenza control zone established in the area of St. Catharines, Ontario, has been removed.

(Jennifer Marr | Freeimages.com)
(Jennifer Marr | Freeimages.com)

The three-kilometer avian influenza control zone established in the area of St. Catharines, Ontario, has been removed.

The control zone had been in place since July 10, after low pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza was detected at a commercial duck farm near St. Catharines. The control zone included the area within a 3 kilometer radius of the farm. About 14,000 ducks at the farm were susceptible.

According to a notice from Chicken Farmers of Ontario, all commercial and non-commercial farms in the zone have been released from quarantine, with the exception of the infected farm, as it needs to complete a 21-day waiting period that follows cleaning and disinfection procedures under the oversight of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

With the lifting of the control zone, licensing will no longer be required for the movement of animals, products and equipment in the area.

No new avian influenza cases

The St. Catharines duck farm remains to date the only farm to be affected by avian influenza in Canada in 2016. Prior to that, the last confirmed cases of avian influenza in the country took place in April 2015, when one broiler breeder farm and two commercial turkey farms were infected, affecting about 79,800 birds. All three of those cases occurred in Oxford County, Ontario, which is west of St. Catharines.

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