Veterinary authority: Requirement to keep poultry indoors might soon be lifted

  • 2017-04-28
  • BNS/TBT Staff

RIGA  - The government is expected to decide next week on easing biosafety requirements and lifting the requirement to keep all domestic birds indoors, Maris Balodis, director general of the Food and Veterinary Service, told journalists Thursday.

He said that recently representatives of the Food and Veterinary Service had a meeting with ornithologists to discuss issues concerning the migration of wild birds. Waterfowl, the main carriers of avian flu, have already started nesting, which means that the risk of an avian flu outbreak has decreased. The government plans to discuss lifting the ban on letting domestic birds go outdoors next Tuesday, May 2.

The head of the Food and Veterinary Service warned, however, that the risk of an avian flu outbreak was still there. A few days ago, an outbreak was reported at a farm with 50,000 chickens in Sweden. Prevention, therefore, has to continue at Latvian poultry farms.

Latvia and Estonia are the only EU member states still unaffected by avian flu but the risks remain. More than 2,000 outbreaks of avian flu have been reported across Europe since October.

As reported, in order to protect the poultry sector from a possible outbreak of avian flu, poultry in Latvia have to be kept indoors from March 1 until June 1. Thus, all farms and bird keepers, including those with very small flocks, should be ready for unannounced inspections of the Food and Veterinary Service.