Authorities have confirmed avian influenza or bird flu has spread to a second poultry farm in Victoria. A new quarantine zone has been declared and agriculture Victoria vets are on the scene for another mass chicken cull.
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00:00The second outbreak of bird flu has been found.
00:04These two farms are owned by the same person.
00:07They're about 130 kilometres away from each other and testing's confirmed a H7 variety
00:14of bird flu at both of these farms.
00:16So these are strains of bird flu that we have seen in Australia before.
00:20They're in wild birds and where wild birds and chickens come in contact, this is a risk
00:25for the industry.
00:26So now it has been found at these property.
00:29The testing and the tracing has now found it at another property, this time at Terrain.
00:34We're going to see authorities spring into gear and perform a mass chicken cull because
00:39that's how they can get on top of the disease.
00:42But unfortunately, more than half a million chickens will have to die to try and control
00:46the spread of this disease.
00:47Yeah, obviously the biosecurity is of utmost importance.
00:51Just how concerned does the public need to be?
00:55Authorities are really forceful in trying to get out this message every time that chicken,
01:01meat and eggs are still safe to eat.
01:04There is no concern at all about the food supply.
01:07But I know from talking to farmers, they're really concerned.
01:10Farmers hundreds of kilometres away from these outbreaks saying that they're really worried
01:14about consumers stopping eating eggs and meat because fears of an outbreak like this.
01:21And this is at a time where bird flu has been moving quite extensively around the world.
01:25Bird strains, not this one here, but a different strain in America has been found in the dairy
01:30industry.
01:31There's been a couple of human cases there.
01:33It's also spread to Antarctica and into things like sea lions in South America.
01:38And with that heightened concern, authorities are pretty quick to say, hey, look, meat and
01:43eggs are still safe to eat.
01:45And as with everything, if you still have concerns after that, just if you cook it thoroughly,
01:50there is definitely no problem to you.
01:53So those are the messages coming out at the moment.
01:56OK, now we know that there has been a human case reported in Victoria this week, Australia's
02:01first ever case of the virus manifesting in a child returning from overseas.
02:05Is there any link between the two?
02:08No, it's been stressed quite vehemently from authorities that there is absolutely no link
02:14between the two.
02:15The return traveller had this this new strain, the H5N1, the concerning international strain.
02:21Authorities say they found that due to due to testing.
02:25And there is no concern to the public there from the return traveller.
02:28And that is a completely different strain to the one that's being found in farms in
02:32Victoria at the site.
02:34Well, at a similar time, the one on farms is from wild birds and it can get from wild
02:39birds to chickens.
02:40And it's devastating to that individual farmer.
02:42But to the wider industry, it's probably more of an expectation that this is the risk of
02:48raising chickens in Australia in 2024.
02:50That bird flu is there.
02:51This is our ninth outbreak since 1976.
02:54And this is a wild strain and and probably in a way a bit more comforting that it's a
03:00known strain and not this unexpected international one.
03:03Yeah, for sure.
03:04You mentioned, Warwick, that, you know, there are obviously mass culls going on at these
03:06two farms associated with the outbreaks and the industry is ensuring consumers that that
03:13eggs and the chicken is safe at this stage.
03:16How else is the industry responding to this?
03:19Yeah, so a lot of strict biosecurity measures are already in place at these farms.
03:24There are things like washes and showers and you've got to wipe things down as well to
03:28go on and off, particularly intensive chicken properties.
03:31But and you're going to see a lot more of this due to the risk of bird flu itself and
03:36a season of bird flu when the migratory birds are coming into Australia, heightening that
03:41risk.
03:42A lot of farms have already put in a lot of extra measures in place and an outbreak like
03:46this will make them put in even more.
03:48And whilst that's going on, testing and tracing, which a lot of people will remember from the
03:51COVID days in humans, is going on from Agriculture Victoria authorities on these farms.
03:56So any cars that have been to these farms are being checked to where they have gone
04:00and if they've gone to other poultry farms.
04:03And this farmer itself owns multiple locations.
04:06Two of them have infections, but there are other farms that they are going and checking
04:10as we speak.
04:11So we had that confirmed just a few minutes ago.
04:13So those authorities will be working deep into the weekend on issues like this.