New York duck farm to kill flock of 100,000 after fowl flu outbreak

• The outbreak is a major blow to the area’s duck farming trade, as Crescent Duck Farm is likely one of the final remaining industrial duck farms in Lengthy Island.
• The farm’s president, Doug Corwin, expressed devastation over the scenario, describing it as a private and historic loss.
• This incident follows a current fowl flu case at a industrial poultry plant in Georgia, highlighting the continued concern of the virus’s unfold.
• Chicken flu continues to impression poultry populations nationwide, contributing to rising egg costs and prompting elevated surveillance and testing measures.

A Lengthy Island farm will reportedly euthanize greater than 100,000 geese after a fowl flu outbreak hit the jap New York facility.

Employees on the Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue, New York, observed that a lot of birds have been in poor health, based on Newsday and native station WABC-TV. They later examined optimistic for the extremely pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which has been infecting folks, pets and poultry throughout the U.S.

Crescent Duck Farm President Doug Corwin mentioned the euthanasia is especially devastating as Lengthy Island was recognized for its in depth duck farming trade. The enterprise is the biggest main industrial duck farm in Suffolk County and one of many final in Lengthy Island, WABC reported.

The family-owned farm has been working since 1908, WABC reported.

“You consistently monitor your flock − 3 times a day. Someday issues regarded uncommon. I observed a number of torpid birds that didn’t appear proper,” Corwin advised Newsday. “It is my legacy. I believe we’re form of iconic, contemplating we’re what Lengthy Island was recognized for. And I simply don’t need it to finish this manner.”

However your complete flock must be killed for public security, Suffolk County Well being Commissioner Gregson Pigott advised the station.

“Sadly, when you’ve gotten a scenario like this the place you’ve gotten a flock that is contaminated, the treatment is to place your complete flock down,” he mentioned.

Chicken flu present in Georgia industrial poultry plant

Final week the fowl flu reached a northeastern Georgia poultry plant, marking the fifth optimistic HPAI case within the state and the primary case at industrial poultry operation, state officers confirmed.

The case was positioned a facility in Elbert County, the Georgia Division of Agriculture confirmed Friday, together with the U.S. Division of Agriculture.

Officers on Friday issued a quarantine of all industrial poultry operations inside a 6.2-mile radius with surveillance testing set to comply with for at the very least two weeks. All in-state poultry exhibitions, exhibits, swaps, meets and gross sales have been suspended till additional discover, the division mentioned. 

“This can be a critical menace to Georgia’s #1 trade and the livelihoods of hundreds of Georgians who make their dwelling in our state’s poultry trade,” Tyler Harper, state agriculture commissioner, mentioned in an announcement. “We’re working across the clock to mitigate any additional unfold of the illness and be certain that regular poultry actions in Georgia can resume as rapidly as attainable.”

Chicken flu: What to know now

Chicken flu has been making its approach around the globe since 1997 however had been largely confined to wild birds till current years. since rising in 2020 in Europe, the present fowl flu pressure, H5N1, has been declared the biggest avian flu epidemic ever on that continent and has unfold to Africa, the Center East and Asia.

The fowl flu pressure appeared within the U.S. in late 2021. Since April 2024, there have been a complete of 61 reported human instances of H5 fowl flu reported within the U.S., based on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.

Earlier this month, the primary individual within the U.S. to die of fowl flu was reported Jan. 6 by the Louisiana Division of Public Well being. The affected person was over 65 and reported to have underlying medical circumstances.

Again in December, fowl flu issues led to the recall of a line of cat meals from Northwest Naturals after well being authorities linked the demise of a cat to a batch of feed contaminated with fowl flu. The USDA additionally started testing of milk nationwide to handle fowl flu outbreaks in dairy herds.

The unfold of fowl flu amongst poultry flocks within the U.S. is additionally inflicting a spike in egg costs. As of Jan. 6, the virus had hit greater than 138 million poultry throughout 50 U.S. states since January 2022, based on the CDC.