SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Bird flu is raging across Missouri. Agricultural leaders thought it would die down by now.
In late November Missouri agriculture officials said 9,000 laying hens in Webster county died from the bird flu.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said more than 52 million birds have died in this year’s bird or Avian flu outbreak.
Christi Miller, spokesperson for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, said they thought the flu would have been gone by now.
“We had hoped certainly that would be gone by this time of the year,” said Miller. “But it just shows that virus continues to hang around in those birds as they continue to fly south for the winter.”
Miller said shoppers should not be alarmed by flocks dying from the virus.
“Products that you buy in the grocery store, there is no problem with the food supply at all,” said Miller.
Officials from the Missouri Department of Agriculture said as of December 12, there have been 16 cases of the bird flu here in Missouri.
It killed hundreds of thousands of birds commercially and in backyard flocks, the latest being in Osage County yesterday.
“It’s a disaster. It can be just a different kind of a disaster,” said Miller.
Miller said there had been no cases of bird flu in humans for years. But, if you have a small backyard flock, stay clean, get new feeders, change clothes and shoes around your birds, and more.
“Keeping your birds away from wild waterfowl, making sure that they don’t drink at the same water sources,” said Miller. “They don’t drink at the same pond, and they don’t eat out of the same food sources.”
Miller said to disinfect equipment if you use it at different farms and add fencing. Doing these things can keep the virus from going from state to state.
“It’s biosecurity; things like that can really help keep this virus from spreading. It spreads very easily,” said Miller.
She said to call a veterinarian or the department of agriculture if your birds seem off because most of the time, you can’t tell by just looking if a bird has the virus.
“They’re gonna stop eating and drinking if they don’t feel well,” said Miller. “So you might notice a sudden dramatic increase in the fact that there’s a lot of water remaining, there’s a lot of food remaining every day.”
Miller said they could not comment on if the bird flu outbreak and high egg prices were related.
She said what you buy in the grocery store should be safe as long as you cook it right.
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Agricultural experts say shoppers shouldn’t worry about poultry as bird flu flies across the state – KY3
