There were deficiencies in wildlife control at most Japanese poultry farms hit by bird flu

Most of the chicken farms in Japan that were hit by bird flu last year had defects in preventing wildlife from accessing their chicken coops, government officials said Saturday.

The farm ministry’s study of affected chicken farms found that 90% of the farms in the survey had problems keeping chickens separated from wild birds and other animals. Defects included holes in the roofs and walls of the coops.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has confirmed that 39 farms have a bird flu outbreak so far this season, which has resulted in the killing of around 6.2 million birds, the highest number. height for one season.

The ministry’s inspection team inspected 30 of the affected farms and found defects in protective measures at 27 of them.

At the remaining three farms, there were cases where there was no obvious shortage or damage to poultry houses but there were signs that rodents had entered them, which could be suffering from chicken feed, officials said.

At 19 farms, insufficient disinfection measures were taken by people who worked there, they said.

In terms of the extent of the latest uprising, the National Agriculture and Food Research Agency has said that birds that have been exposed to the highly pathogenic strain of strain tested this season tend to live longer. compared to sequences found in a previous revolution, causing diseases to spread more widely before the farm can activate the first signs of disease.

Makoto Ozawa, associate professor of veterinary medicine at Kagoshima University, says it is more difficult to prevent the latest strain of bird flu.

“Looking at how diseases have spread this season, (the revolution) is probably more than farms can deal with on their own,” he said.

“The latest tensions need to be analyzed more closely to get a stronger response,” he said.