VANCOUVER — Animal health experts are warning about avian flu returning to poultry farms as wild birds begin migrating south for the winter.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the strain can cause serious disease and death in birds. It believes migratory birds are responsible for the outbreaks in small and commercial poultry flocks. "I say that because we're not getting nearly the number of infections that we were getting last year but, given the impact to industry, we have no choice but to be prepared and make sure that we're ready and we're doing our due diligence."
"We've always had a robust emergency operation piece industry-wide in B.C. ever since 2004 and that's worked in conjunction with the B.C. ministry," Nickel said."But the virus evolved and sort of became more prevalent last year and it resulted in us making changes to how we actually do that."