VETERINARY Manitoba’s sole HPAI control zone was removed in the second week of January
Manitoba’s poultry traffic could again flow normally after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Jan. 8 revoked the province’s only active control zone for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
The control zone, which covered 14 square miles in the R.M. of Rhineland south of Plum Coulee, had been in place for two months.
On Nov. 8, 2023, the CFIA announced that a premise in the area had broken out with Manitoba’s first bird flu case of the year. A control zone was declared two days later.
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All commercial and non-commercial poultry in the area was considered a potential virus risk under the order, including “day-old poultry and hatching eggs, eggs and other products or by-products of such captive domestic poultry, and things that have been exposed to such a bird.”
All other captive birds, like pets, were also included “if movements may result in contact with commercial or non-commercial poultry or their facilities.”
Active control zones require permits for the movement of birds and poultry products so long as the order is in effect, with the exception of meat or egg products being transported for personal use.
The case in the RM of Rhineland was one of only two positive HPAI cases found in Manitoba in 2023. On Nov. 24, it was also found on a site in the RM of West St. Paul. As a non-commercial poultry operation, that case did not spark a control zone.
Other provinces have been more impacted by HPAI, although cases have greatly slowed from levels seen in 2022. As of Jan. 9, HPAI had affected almost 11 million domestic birds in Canada since serious outbreaks began to be reported in late 2021. A total 57 sites were actively infected nationwide at that time.
Most recently, barns have been found with the disease in B.C., Alberta and Quebec since the start of December 2023.
