Dutch poultry sent indoors as bird flu approaches

The Times
Aug. 22, 2005

All free-range commercial poultry in the Netherlands must be kept indoors from today, under a ban introduced to protect the country's fowl from avian flu, which is spreading towards Europe through migrating flocks.

The measure, which affects around 5 million of the 90 million chickens farmed in the Netherlands, is the first clear response from a European government to reports of spreading avian flu infections in Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia.

On Saturday, Russian veterinary officials sealed off the first large poultry farm believed to have been infected in Siberia. Up to 142,000 birds will have to be slaughtered if tests show the H5N1 strain of bird flu has taken hold in the farm, which is near the western Siberian city of Omsk.

The disease has killed 11,000 birds in Russia so far and caused the slaughter of 127,000 but has not spread to humans. The H5N1 strain of avian flu has killed more than 60 people in Asia since its first outbreak in 2002.

As the poultry of the Netherlands were locked inside this morning, the Dutch Agriculture Ministry said the ban - ordered last week - was intended to last until early next year.

"The ministry is expecting the measure to be in place until early 2006. The bird migration period usually lasts until December but in cold weather the bird flu virus could survive a little longer," said a ministry spokeswoman this morning.

A serious outbreak of avian flu in the Netherlands two years ago, which led to the slaughter of nearly 30 million birds, did not spread to Britain. One veterinarian treating the diseased birds died, and more than 80 poultry workers and veterinarians contracted conjunctivitis from the sick flocks.

The ban has aroused fears in Britain that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) might order a similar measure. The German Government has said that it is considering a similar ban, which would come into force on September 15.

But Defra said today that the Dutch measure was, in their view, "not proportionate to the risk" that flocks of free-range and organic chickens will catch the disease from migrating wild birds.

"We've known about this measure for more than week, so this is not news to us," a spokesman told Times Online. "As far as we're concerned, we aren't going to order free range poultry keepers to move their poultry inside. We don't think the evidence warrants it. We don't think it's proportionate to the risk."

Despite its relaxed position towards the Dutch measure, Defra urged farmers to keep a close eye on their poultry. If farmers detect the symptoms of avian flu they are legally bound to inform the police and Defra as soon as possible.

"Avian flu is a notifiable disease, so we watch its spread with careful eyes," said the spokesman. "We urge poultry farmers at all times to have high standards of bio-security."

If Britain's free-range and organic flocks are brought indoors, there are concerns that they will not be able to conform to the strict standards that govern organic farming.

Free-range birds must spend at least a third of their lives outdoors but organic and free-range meat birds are slaughtered after just 81 days, so a ban lasting more than a month would prevent them from meeting their organic certification.

Richard Jacobs, the business manager of Organic Farmers & Growers Ltd, the largest certification body for Britain's organic poultry, warned that Defra would have to be careful how it phrased any ban. "They are going to have to clarify how to deal with its rules, as a bird kept indoors is not strictly speaking within the standards," he said.

"We would expect to be told what's going on as soon as possible."