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WYSO | By Shay Frank
Published August 27, 2025
Ohio is better prepared for future bird flu outbreaks after curbing the most recent epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza that started last December. That’s according to Jim Chakeres, executive vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture says producers in the state destroyed more than 15 million birds in the latest outbreak, and at one point, Ohio had the most cases of bird flu in the country.
Chakeres said Ohio currently has 35 to 36 million commercial egg-laying hens. Prior to the outbreak, full production was closer to 42 million. (These numbers do not necessarily include smaller farms and facilities.)
At the height of the outbreak in February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a billion dollar, five-pronged response.
-snip-
Ohio is continuing to work with the USDA to make facilities “less desirable” for influenza-carrying, migratory birds that could cause future outbreaks.
"We have a lot of different mitigation programs in place to try to prevent wild birds from deciding that this is an attractive area to land or in certain instances to even fly over," Chakeres said.
USDA workers are helping conduct "assessments on each individual farm when the farm requests them,” to provide personalized guidance for wild bird mitigation.
-snip-
WYSO reached out to the ODA to ask if the agency considers the outbreak to be over. In a written response, Bryan Levin, a public information officer for the ODA, said, "there is currently no regulatory oversight by [Ohio Department of Agriculture’s] Division of Animal Health on sites that had HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza].”
https://www.wyso.org/news/2025-08-2...ays-state-put-a-book-end-on-bird-flu-outbreak
WYSO | By Shay Frank
Published August 27, 2025
Ohio is better prepared for future bird flu outbreaks after curbing the most recent epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza that started last December. That’s according to Jim Chakeres, executive vice president of the Ohio Poultry Association.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture says producers in the state destroyed more than 15 million birds in the latest outbreak, and at one point, Ohio had the most cases of bird flu in the country.
Chakeres said Ohio currently has 35 to 36 million commercial egg-laying hens. Prior to the outbreak, full production was closer to 42 million. (These numbers do not necessarily include smaller farms and facilities.)
At the height of the outbreak in February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched a billion dollar, five-pronged response.
-snip-
Ohio is continuing to work with the USDA to make facilities “less desirable” for influenza-carrying, migratory birds that could cause future outbreaks.
"We have a lot of different mitigation programs in place to try to prevent wild birds from deciding that this is an attractive area to land or in certain instances to even fly over," Chakeres said.
USDA workers are helping conduct "assessments on each individual farm when the farm requests them,” to provide personalized guidance for wild bird mitigation.
-snip-
WYSO reached out to the ODA to ask if the agency considers the outbreak to be over. In a written response, Bryan Levin, a public information officer for the ODA, said, "there is currently no regulatory oversight by [Ohio Department of Agriculture’s] Division of Animal Health on sites that had HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza].”
https://www.wyso.org/news/2025-08-2...ays-state-put-a-book-end-on-bird-flu-outbreak