France will cull an additional 600,000 ducks as part of an effort to prevent the spread of the H5N8 bird flu virus.
Further Culling Of Ducks To Affect Production Of French Foie Gras
The latest cull is set to take place in the Landes region, which happens to be the home of most of the country's foie gras producers.
"We have already culled a lot of ducks in the eastern bit of that area. We know that there is still an area remaining where we will have to take action to cull all the ducks," France's farming minister Stephane Le Foll said.
The planned culling of thousands of ducks will essentially affect the production of foie gras in this region, which accounts for a quarter of the total production of the controversial French luxury food made from the livers of ducks or geese that were fattened through force-feeding.
France already launched a massive cull earlier this year in an attempt to contain the H5N8 virus that has been spreading across Middle Eastern and European countries over the past three months. France and Hungary are among the hardest hit by the highly contagious virus.
The pathogenic virus was first detected in wild geese in November and has quickly spread through duck farms. Le Foll said that authorities face a virus that spreads at a never-before-seen speed and with short incubation periods.
Last month, French authorities said that the country would scale back from preventative slaughtering after the spread of the disease slowed but the number of infected farms continued to rise. The planned culling of another 600,000 ducks reflects the country's intent to prevent further spread of the infectious pathogen.
Foie gras producers estimate that the number of poultry in the country that were slaughtered due to bird flu is more than 3.2 million. The forecast though would rise to 3.4 million as the French government extended its culling measures.
The country's foie gras industry also estimates that the cull will cost producers 270 million euros. Although the government promised that the farmers will be compensated, some producers complained of being underpaid following a similar bird flu outbreak that occurred in 2015, which cost the industry about half a billion euros.
Duck farmers accused the government for its slow response at the start of the outbreak, which helped spread the virus and increased the number of birds that are now being slaughtered.
Increased Vigilance To Prevent Potential Human Cases
Amid the spread of avian flu in poultries across Europe, the World Health Organization called for increased vigilance and improved surveillance efforts to prevent and identify possible humans cases of bird flu.
"No human cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N8) have been reported so far in European countries, but this does not mean this cannot happen, as past experience tells us," said WHO Europe Programme Manager of Influenza and Other Respiratory Pathogens Dr. Caroline Brown. "Countries reporting outbreaks in birds need to remain vigilant as avian influenza viruses can transmit from animals to humans."
