The Lot-et-Garonne Chamber of Agriculture and the Rural Coordination union oppose the containment and preventive slaughter of healthy ducks.
The fight against avian flu is in the dark. Poultry farmers in Lot-et-Garonne are standing up against the mass slaughter of animals. This Monday, February 27, the Lot-et-Garonne Chamber of Agriculture and the Rural Coordination union indicated in a joint press release their refusal to establish the confinement of palpimedes.
In this department little affected by avian influenza (10 outbreaks of H5N8 avian influenza were reported on February 24), the president of the Chamber of Agriculture, Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, and of the Rural Coordination union Patrick Franken, decreed ” unilaterally ”the deconfinement of animals,“ which will have the consequence of avoiding untimely slaughter ”of healthy animals.
For Lot-et-Garonnais farmers, this measure supposed to curb the spread of the virus – which now affects more than 371 farms in the South-West – is “unnecessary”. They therefore call on breeders to mobilize “in order to prevent anyone from accessing poultry and duck farms in the 1 to 3 km zone around proven avian influenza outbreaks”. In other words, the two presidents ask farmers to intervene in the face of the veterinary services responsible for slaughtering ducks, chickens and other poultry. However, the two authorities specify that in the event of an outbreak discovered, “slaughter will be accepted” in an immediate radius around it.
360,000 animals will be slaughtered
“We have managed so far not to kill preventively, we want to continue like that”, the president of the Chamber of Agriculture told AFP, adding that “when the law is bad, we have to go over it “. The two leaders assure that they will be able to mobilize a large number of farmers very quickly. And if there is a barrage of breeders, they will assume “the consequences of these actions”, including possible prosecution.
At present, the department is not affected by the crawl space decided by the Ministry of Agriculture. This measure targets an area straddling 4 departments (Gers, Landes, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées) which concentrates the largest number of cases. In a fortnight, more than 360,000 animals not infected with H5N8 are expected to be killed.
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