No more avian flu on Sask chicken farm; Canada declared free of disease
OTTAWA — Canada has been declared free of a highly infectious strain of avian flu by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
The agency says there's been no sign of bird flu on a Saskatchewan farm since cleaning and disinfection were completed 90 days ago. That means Canada can be considered free of the infection as per international regulations overseen by the World Organization for Animal Health.
About 50,000 birds on James Glen's chicken farm north of Regina were destroyed in September after avian flu was discovered.
The strain is not dangerous to humans, but the outbreak led 20 countries to ban imports of Canadian poultry products.
The avian flu virus in Saskatchewan was the same one involved in a 2004 outbreak in British Columbia that saw 17 million chickens destroyed.
