With all the discussion about AI, I wanted to share an e-mail my daughter received last night from our Purdue extension office. I'm sure some others have probably gotten an e-mail like this, but I wanted to share for those who didn't.
The State of Indiana has now moved to a Biosecurity Level 2 for the Indiana Emergency Poultry Plan. This change is due to the significant growth in the number of flocks diagnosed with Highly Pathogenic and Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Wisconsin and the states West of the Mississippi River.
One of the components for this plan includes that commercially raised poultry should be moved indoors to limit their access to outdoors and their interaction with wildlife, greatly decreasing the risk for contracting the disease. The spread of this outbreak is currently linked to migratory birds.
Here are some more notes from a recent press release:
There are three important things that you need to know about this situation:
- Our food supply is safe. Food is safe because the United States has the strongest AI surveillance system in the world. We actively look for the disease, educate the public and producers on the most appropriate practices to ensure their health and safety, as well as provide compensation to affected producers to encourage disease reporting.
- The risk to humans is low. No human infections with these viruses have been detected, and the CDC considers the risk to people from these HPAI H5 infections in wild birds, backyard flocks, and commercial poultry to be low.
- USDA will continue to do everything it can to support states and producers. We are coordinating closely with State officials and other Federal departments on rigorous surveillance, reporting, and control efforts. At the same time, USDA will continue to work with Congress to ensure that we are able to provide a much-needed safety net to the poultry producers who are experiencing economic hardships as a result of losses due to the disease.
Along with industry, USDA and its Federal and State partners are responding quickly and decisively to these outbreaks. You can learn more about the situation and USDA’s response by listening to a recording of the press conference:
http://www.usda.gov/documents/usda-cdc-media-call.mp3.
You too can help by continuing to practice good biosecurity if you own birds. All birds owners, whether commercial producers or backyard enthusiasts, should prevent contact between their birds and wild birds and report sick birds or unusual birds deaths to State/Federal officials, either through their state veterinarian or through USDA’s toll-free number at 1-866-536-7593.
Learn more about biosecurity for backyard flocks at
http://healthybirds.aphis.usda.gov. More information about USDA avian influenza efforts is available at
http://www.usda.gov/avian_influenza.html.
Please let us know if you have any questions.
Lesley Lodmell
Extension Educator- 4-H Youth Development
Lawrence County
[email protected]
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I pet him and hold him all the time, he is my baby even though he is 2 years old
