Fresh testing has shown no signs of bird flu outside of Mainland Poultry’s farm at Hillgrove, Otago, where depopulation of layer sheds is expected to be completed today.
Biosecurity New Zealand Deputy Director-General, Stuart Anderson said the farm remains under strict biosecurity lockdown.
“The depopulation to date covers all four layer sheds, which held a capacity of 160,000 chickens in total. We’ve had an animal welfare specialist on site to observe depopulation operations,” said Mr Anderson.
“Test results at the weekend confirmed the HPAI H7N6 virus had spread to the final layer shed, which was not unexpected for this virus. We had already planned to depopulate this shed before those results came in as we knew that spread was almost certain.”
He said a separate facility on the farm that houses 40,000 rearing chickens, will also be cleared, with that depopulation set to begin today.
“International experience tells us there is no other way to manage the risk of spread of this virus other than full farm depopulation, followed by cleaning, and decontamination,” said Mr Anderson.
“We’ve moved quickly in the past week to put in restrictions, investigate, track, and test, and I thank the farmer involved and our industry partners for their help – together we’ve made strong progress.
“More than 1,200 samples have been received to date, with hundreds being analysed at a time at our enhanced PC3 laboratory at Wallaceville in Wellington.
“Our response team has more than 200 staff across MPI now involved. We continue to put significant resource into eliminating H7N6, and we are confident we are on the right track to stamp it out.”
There remains no risk to eggs and chicken supply in New Zealand given the size of the national flock, nor any issues for food safety, and the risk to human health remains low, he said.
