Faced since mid-November with an epizootic of bird flu (H5N8 virus), France, which has already put in place since Christmas measures for the massive preventive slaughter of ducks in a hundred municipalities, on Sunday widened the scope of these measures to 13 new locations.
This brings to nearly 130 municipalities, including 110 in the Landes, the area affected by this means thought to contain the spread of this disease harmless to humans, but lethal in animals.
While the virus made its first appearance in French farms in early December, the situation has hardened in recent days in the Landes (which accounts for 40% of French production), where nearly 40 new sources of contamination have been recently confirmed, bringing their total number in France to 61. An evolution such that after the depopulation of livestock in a preventive manner within a radius of 3 kilometers around an outbreak, the Ministry of Agriculture does not exclude change gear.
"The prevention strategy (...) may be reviewed in the light of a new opinion from ANSES
(health security agency, Editor's note)
expected this week",
details the firm of Julien Denormandie in a press release published on Sunday.
When questioned, the ministry does not specify the measures envisaged, but on the side of the producers the scenario of a vast crawl space such as that put in place in 2016 and 2017, especially in the Gers, is reinforced.
An economic disaster that had resulted in the slaughter of 14 million animals and 540 million losses over two years for this sector of less than 2 billion euros in turnover.
“I do not exclude it
, fears Marie-Pierre Pé, general manager of the inter-professional sector (Cifog).
Despite the total mobilization of the sector, the depopulation targeted around the outbreaks is struggling to contain contamination, especially since the cold and humid weather is very favorable to the virus. ”
ANSES is expected to deliver its conclusions later this week.