Information Session For Backyard Poultry Flock Owners, Canada

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/109335.php

Information Session For Backyard Poultry Flock Owners, Canada
Article Date: 01 Jun 2008 - 0:00 PDT

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the minist?re de l'Agriculture, des P?cheries et de l'Alimentation du Qu?bec (MAPAQ), invite owners of small or backyard poultry flocks to attend an information session on how to help prevent and detect poultry diseases, such as avian influenza.

Area bird owners and the general public are welcome to drop in from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11, 2008, at the Saint-Isidore Municipal Centre located at 130 Coulombe road, Saint-Isidore, Qu?bec. Veterinarians from the CFIA and MAPAQ will be available to answer questions.

A series of presentations will also be held throughout the evening. Topics include preventing the spread and introduction of disease, how to spot the signs of illness and what to do if a disease is detected

Additional sessions are being held across Canada later this year. For more information about this public information session , please call M?lanie Cardin from the CFIA at 514-283-3815 ext. 4220. Additional information is also available on the CFIA website, http://www.inspection.gc.ca.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency

[Shiloh]

Re: Information Session For Backyard Poultry Flock Owners, Canada

Source:

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/327135

Moncton session on keeping birds free of disease set for tomorrow from 6-9 p.m.

Emery Leger, a veterinarian with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and an animal health program specialist, says only certain types of birds can contract avian flu

While song birds are susceptible, it is usually found in migratory birds such as geese, which usually carry a low-path strain of the virus.

Leger and the CFIA will host a free information session tomorrow in Moncton for non-commercial poultry producers, bird lovers and owners of fancy birds and show birds to promote bird health and teach them how to prevent diseases such as bird flu and what to do if a disease is contracted.

"Early recognition can lead to treatment," said Leger.

Signs a bird may have contracted the disease include decrease in appetite or drinking, change in behaviour, weakness and ruffled feathers.

Also available to answer questions are veterinarian Dr. Jim Joltz, provincial poultry specialist Dr. Colleen Home and Dr. Craig Bellamy, an expert in animal bio security with the CFIA.

Leger said there are two strains of the disease. When a bird has a low-level strain, there are few visible signs. With the high-level strain, however, the bird exhibits noticeable signs and the disease can be fatal.

The only Canadian occurrence of the potentially fatal strain of bird flu was in Ontario poultry in 1966. The less-severe strain of the disease has been found in the country three times since 1975.

n The free information session on how to keep birds healthy and safe from serious diseases, including avian influenza, will be held tomorrow from 6 p.m.--9 p.m. at the Office of the Department of Agriculture and Aquaculture at 381 Killam Dr. in Moncton