By Cathy Ryo
Published on
updated on August 25, 22 at 15:06
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On the Guérande peninsula (Loire-Atlantique), it is not farms that are affected by bird flu but wild birds.
Poultry farmers, targeted by the measures put in place by the Loire-Atlantique prefecture, are skeptical that their effectiveness in overcoming the epidemic.
“Inappropriate, ineffective”
We are still at measures that do not work!
The confinement of his 4,200 gallinaceans, he does not want it.
Confinement is inappropriate because it is animal abuse. It is ineffective with regard to epizootics, because that is one.
The producer did not lock up his hens and found an alternative, validated by the authorities.
“I undertake to carry out regular veterinary checks and to pass them on”. Biosecurity measures (secure access to breeding, disinfection of vehicles, change of outfits) are applied.
At the height of the epidemic this winter, the Guérande peninsula was in the “free zone”, between the Morbihan and the south Loire (even a part of the north-Loire) affected by the virus, “we went between the drops”. A chance that the breeder fears to see running.
And beyond his personal case, Gérard Macé denounces “recommendations which are always the same. But we have seen in Vendée that they are useless. The problem is concentration. Free range farming is much more resilient to this virus.”
The solution: “vaccination”
For him, the solution is vaccination. “The vaccine is ready, but it takes political will. It gets stuck because the food industry blocks, countries refuse to import vaccinated products. In the meantime, the epidemic is progressing and it is financially and psychologically terrible for breeders. Some have stopped their activity, others have given up their installation”.
Gérard Macé also points out the cost:
These are astronomical sums, between compensation and partial unemployment measures for jobs in the sector. Taxpayers are paying for a system that does not solve the problem.
Thursday August 25, 2022, the peasant confederation organized a press briefing: “We are being imposed ineffective constraints in the face of this epidemic which is returning at a high rate. We feel discriminated against”.
The confederation is surprised: “We are asked for biosecurity measures for access to our farms, but at the port of La Turballe, everyone walks in gull droppings and can therefore spread the virus”.
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