It comes as the culling of 80,000 chickens onthe Mainland Poultry-managed egg farm commenced this morning, with the process set to take up to three days.
Biosecurity New Zealand deputy director-general Stuart Anderson said a “precautionary restricted place notice” has been placed on a second small free-range farm near Dunedin, stopping movement of material on and off the property.
“As is normal in biosecurity responses, we always investigate where illness is identified. The property has around 6000 birds, with a number of deaths, and testing is under way,” Anderson said.
Anderson said the new property is not owned by Mainland Poultry and investigations are under way to find if there are any links between the two properties.
The farm at the centre of the outbreak. Photo / Ben Tomsett
Some 80,000 chickens on the Mainland Poultry farm will be destroyed by CO2 containerised gas, which farms regularly use to euthanise chickens and is an existing industry standard practice.
Anderson said the chicken carcasses, along with litter from the two affected sheds, would be transported to a secure landfill in Southland.
“The carcases will be loaded directly onto trucks with a leak-proof plastic lining, which has been thoroughly tested.
“The disposal will be in a deep pit and in an area well away from any public access, and the landfill will be closed during this process.”
Anderson said testing is also being carried out on birds in remaining sheds on Mainland Poultry’s egg farm and at other properties of interest.
“We will continue rigorous testing over the coming days and weeks and will take action as required.
”There had been no reports of concern about other ill or dead birds on other poultry farms. Contract tracing has revealed limited movements between Mainland Poultry’s affected farm and some of the other poultry farms in the area.”
He said the 10km buffer zone around Mainland Poultry’s egg farm would now be referred to as an “enhanced surveillance zone”.
After an initial announcement on Monday that 40,000 birds were affected, Biosecurity New Zealand deputy director-general Stuart Anderson said in a statement on Tuesday that the virus had spread to a second shed on the Otago farm, bringing the total number to 80,000.
All poultry exports have been put on hold as Mainland Poultry tries to rid the farm of the virus before it spreads.
A digger arrived at the farm yesterday morning. Photo / Ben Tomsett
Security staff have been placed at the gates to the property throughout the week.
Vehicles have been seen delivering gas canisters and earth-moving equipment to the property.
A spokesperson for Mainland Poultry earlier said discussions were ongoing with the Ministry of Primary Industries on how the carcasses would be disposed.
“Even though we’ve been promoting this quite heavily, this is not the one [virus] that’s spread by migratory birds around the world, which hasn’t arrived in New Zealand yet.
“It’s a serious strain and it’s largely confined to the poultry industry.”
One neighbour, who spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity, said they had two family members who worked at the Mainland Poultry free-range farm about an hour north of Dunedin.
“I drop my kids off to school just down the road, and I have wondered if it’s catchable for humans ... it’s pretty freaky.”
“Hopefully they can get rid of it and we can go back to normal quickly.”
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