Bird Flu Results In 69 Million Birds Culled In US Since 2022, As Outbreak Persists In California

The following report is by San Francisco Chronicle:

A fast-spreading outbreak of avian flu that’s affected more than 69 million birds
nationwide since 2022 has reached one of the crown jewels of Bay Area poultry:
Liberty Ducks, a Sonoma County farm name-checked on the menus of its roughly
200 wholesale clients, including Chez Panisse and the French Laundry.

One of Liberty’s smaller production farm locations recently tested positive for the virus, Chief Operating Officer Jennifer Reichardt wrote in an announcement for a fundraiser to help the business fend off the virus and deal with the lingering financial repercussions of the COVID pandemic.

The rules and regulations are shifting nearly daily as things evolve and it’s
incredibly overwhelming for our farm.

Reichardt wrote in an email to the Chronicle shortly before the positive test. She declined to comment further after the virus was detected.

A United States Department of Agriculture database that tracks the spread of
what’s known as “highly pathogenic” avian influenza shows that 4,900 birds at a
commercial duck farm in Sonoma County were affected on Thursday, Dec. 7. The
tracker does not identify farms by name.

The virus, the Eurasian H5N1 strain, is often fatal in birds. It’s spread primarily by
wild waterfowl like geese and ducks, and is worst during migration season. The strain is considered a low risk to humans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But it may result in higher prices for chicken, duck and eggs, said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation.

“I don’t think we’ve lost the number yet in California to affect pricing overall,” said
Mattos, citing the state’s annual production of 275 million chickens, 12 million turkeys and about 8 million ducks.

But we need to be diligent, because this is just the beginning of winter. This is a very, very scary time.

He went on

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors declared a state of emergency on Dec. 5
after approximately 250,000 birds were euthanized following positive tests at two other Sonoma County farms. Another 270,000 commercial egg-laying hens at another Sonoma County farm were affected the following day.

The virus has now reached five counties in California, spreading most recently to Stanislaus County, where more than 800,000 chickens were affected in the last week alone, according to the USDA.

Jim Reichardt, Jennifer Reichardt’s father, founded Liberty Ducks in Sonoma County in 1992. Breeding plumper Pekin ducks for high-end customers like chef Traci Des Jardins at San Francisco’s now-shuttered Jardinière, Liberty soon became synonymous with the gourmet duck business. It still is today.

At Michelin-starred Chinatown restaurant Mister Jiu’s, chef Brandon Jew serves about 60-75 Liberty ducks a week, dry-aged and prepared in a Peking style with crackly skin. “It’s kind of a centerpiece of our menu,” said Jew. News of the flu’s impact on Liberty Ducks farm has him concerned, Jew said.

When the virus is detected at one farm, a quarantine zone is established around it
to protect its neighbors, because the virus can also be spread on surfaces like hands, shoes, or clothing. Liberty Ducks was already unable to move or process its ducks due to the recent quarantine, Jennifer Reichardt wrote, and last week, chefs like Jew didn’t receive their orders.

Poultry farms in California typically practice intense biosecurity, said Maurice Pitesky, a professor at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine-Cooperative Extension, but the virus is spreading despite them.

These affected farms, these are good farms. They know what they’re doing.

Pitesky said.

Mike Weber, co-owner of Sunrise Farms in Sonoma County, recently euthanized
82,000 egg-laying hens hit with the virus at one of his farms in Petaluma — “a
horrible achievement” that took more than a week.

“It’s like a science fiction movie,” he said of the virus. “Everything looks fine, and
then it doesn’t.” As the birds get sick, the barns, normally full of scratching, flapping and clucking, go eerily silent.

The day before Thanksgiving, Weber heard from nearby Reichardt Duck Farm, run
by relatives of the Liberty Duck owners, that they had tested positive for the virus. Pekin ducks from that 122-year-old business have hung in the windows of Chinatown restaurants for generations. Owners were forced to euthanize its entire flock of 170,000 birds, said Weber. Reichardt Duck Farm did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

A few days later, on Nov. 27, the virus had spread to Sunrise Farms. Weber noticed
several dead hens in one of his barns, which he collected in a garbage bag and drove to a lab in Davis for a PCR test. “They said, ‘I have bad news for you — this is not gonna be fun,’ ” said Weber.

Birds not killed by the virus needed to be euthanized using chambers with carbon dioxide gas to stop the spread. In order to withstand the rotting stench of the fowl
as they bagged them up, Weber and his co-workers applied Vicks VapoRub below
their nostrils. He described “grown men crying because we could not protect these
birds.”

Weber couldn’t compost the bodies nearby, fearing possible runoff from rain into a
nearby stream. So they transported them in sealed trailers to a special dump, dug a
hole, and covered it quickly to prevent local seagulls and vultures from contamination.

Sunrise Farms has other farms in Sonoma County, with about 800,000 egg-laying hens total. So far, the damage amounts to up to $1 million in lost birds and $4 million in lost profits. Now, Weber is most worried about the virus spreading to other farms.

This is a wildfire. And it can go with the wind to the next poultry ranch.

He said

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

I continue to highlight that this bird flu is not going away, and continues to remain fairly silent yet percolates in the media online. As I have said before, I feel this is something we ought to pay attention to. I have said that bird flu is very possibly the selected narrative for the next shamdemic that is coming. It will be used as a means to mass slaughter livestock and wildlife, and put restrictions on eating meat.

[1] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; [2] Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; [3] Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

1 Timothy 4:1-3

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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