A farmer in Metro Vancouver has been devastated by avian flu sweeping through his flock.
Mike Bose, a turkey farmer and City of Surrey councillor, said his son first noticed a spike in mortality on Nov. 15.
It came back the next morning that the birds were positive for avian influenza, more commonly known as the bird flu.
“From there, it unleashed a whole new world of hurt,” Bose told Global News, adding that they lost about 17,400 birds.
“As a farmer, we’ve been raising turkeys for 60 years. We have never had a major outbreak of anything. Anything that we’ve ever dealt with is something that we could solve on our own very quickly.”
However, avian flu is highly pathogenic and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency must be called in.
Bose said a team from the organization showed up Monday and humanely euthanized the birds that were left. They then help them develop a cleaning plan and Bose said they hope to be back up and running early next year.
“Fortunately, there is compensation from the federal government for the birds that were in the barn,” Bose added, which helps recoup some of the costs.
But for Bose, it’s not about the money, it’s about his birds.
“I’ve had a tough week. I’ve had a very tough week. We absolutely love our birds. I’ve actually spent almost my entire life in a turkey barn. It’s now been 10 days and getting up in the morning and not having a barn to go, a barn full of birds to go check and take care of has been very difficult.”
Province-wide this year, more than five million turkeys and chickens have been euthanized, most of them from the Fraser Valley.
Bose said his farm has never been hit with the virus and has never even been in a protection zone.
He would like to see a vaccination program implemented to fight the spread.
“I know that vaccinations are a challenge when it comes to trade because if you vaccinate birds, the vaccine will show up as a positive test,” Bose said.
According to the B.C. Turkey Marketing Board, the poultry industry is providing input into the federal government’s vaccination strategy.
“Vaccines for Avian Flu are complicated as there are different approaches to consider as well as international trade implications,” the organization said in a statement.
Bose said he has been grateful for the support of the farming industry but it has been a very tough week.
“We will get through this,” he said. “We have a great support network. We have lots of family members in the business. We have lots of friends in the business. And I can’t say enough about the CFA people, they’ve been so helpful and so encouraging.”
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