The most recent case was confirmed on March 20
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Avian flu has arrived in Ontario in 2023.
The City of Brampton confirmed a case of bird flu on March 20.
Deceased waterfowl discovered near Professor’s Lake and Duncan Valley Foster South tested positive for avian influenza, the City said.
Animal samples were sent to the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative, which confirmed bird flu as the cause of death.
Prior to the Brampton case, bird flu was detected on a commercial poultry operation the Niagara Region.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) detected the case on March 14 in West Lincoln.
This case caused an attraction in Toronto to change its operations for the time being.
In a Twitter thread on March 15 and in a press release, the Zoo said as of March 16 it is closing or modifying walk-through aviaries to protect birds.
It’s also closing behind-the-scenes tours of animal food preparation because “of a recent confirmation of Avian influenza in a commercial poultry farm within 200km of the Zoo.”
In addition, the Zoo is discontinuing feeding any animals poultry products temporarily.
The case in Niagara is still considered active.
Ontario’s third case of avian flu in 20233 was detected on March 10.
This case happened in a non-commercial poultry operation in Chatham-Kent and is still active.
Prior to these cases in 2023, Ontario’s last case of avian flu was detected on Dec. 21, 2022 on a commercial poultry operation in Lambton Shores.
In Ontario, seven premises are currently infected with avian flu. Thirty-eight are previously infected, and about 757,000 birds are affected.
In Canada, there are 71 infected premises and 231 previously infected. And approximately 7,184,000 birds are affected by avian flu, the CFIA says.