A new outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus was detected on Sunday evening in a duck farm in Bars.
If the avian flu has been much less virulent for a few weeks in the South-West, unlike the Pays de la Loire, currently in the grip of an explosion of cases, the epizootic continues to affect our department from time to time. About ten days later a confirmed outbreak in Astarac, in Aujan-Mournède, a new case was thus detected in a breeding of ducks ready to force-feed located in the town of Bars, between Marciac and Mirande. An area hitherto spared by the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus, which is obviously not reassuring for a sector which is now awaiting authorization for the reinstatement of animals by the State services.
“State services are fully mobilized”
As a reminder, this could occur March 29 at the earliest, in areas that have not been affected or that have undergone a crawl space. To stem the spread of avian flu in this new area, which threatens to make the link between Armagnac and Astarac, the depopulation of waterfowl will be carried out within a radius of 5 km around the focus of Bars (1 km only for poultry).
The prefect also recalled this Monday, March 7 in a press release the commitment of the veterinary services of the Departmental Directorate for Employment, Labour, Solidarity and Protection of Populations (DDETSPP) “with breeders with professional sectors and the Chamber of Agriculture of Gers to fight against highly pathogenic avian influenza. State services are fully mobilized to support, financially, technically and humanely, the breeders affected by this crisis. He also made a point of supporting the officers victim of violence against their vehicle, on February 28 during a check carried out on a farm in Samaran. “The prefect expresses his full support for these agents and provides state personnel with functional protection,” the statement concludes.