Chickens culled to test bird flu contingency plans
16/05/2006 - 16:56:49
Ireland is now better prepared to deal with an outbreak of bird flu following the testing of a contingency plan on a farm in Co Limerick today.
Fifteen tonnes of liquid carbon dioxide in the form of dry ice was injected into a shed containing 12,000 hens on a farm in Kilmeady this afternoon.
A team of veterinary experts and animal welfare officials monitored the exercise.
Pat Meskell, a Veterinary Inspector for the Department of Agriculture in Limerick monitored the cull: “We had television monitors and infra-red monitors on the birds continually as the gas came in and we watched the chickens' reaction from the time the gas was introduced"
“I would think that most of them were dead within about ten minutes.”
The action had been criticised but Mr Meskell said: “It was totally humane, they showed hardly any distress. We thought the reaction would be that the hens would storm to one end of the shed, that was one of our fears. That did not happen.”
http://www.eveningecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=96868618&p=9686899z&n=96869089
The only other drill like this I've read about was done in Norway. There they gassed 2000 chickens:
Deliberate contamination of the food supply chain::
be prepared with comprehensive contingency plans, building mutual trust and .. The H5N1 bird flu incident in Hong Kong in 1997 demonstrated that chickens are raised on small farms in close proximity to humans and other . preventive or firebreak culling of poultry; . powers of entry to test and sample; and
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0701070403.pdfHOME |
http://www.aftenposten.no/helse/spesial/article1256305.ece
Don't know what the 'norm' is for these sorts of things.
Chickens killed in bird flu exercise
17/05/06
TWELVE thousands chickens were destroyed in Limerick on Tuesday as part of an experiment to test contingency plans in the event of an outbreak of bird flu in Ireland.
The training exercise, which was conducted by the Department of Agriculture, took place on a farm in Kilmeedy.
Carbon Dioxide gas was pumped into a poultry house on the farm killing 11,600 broiler breed hens and 400 cocks in around 10 minutes.
A Department of Agriculture spokesman described the mass slaughter as a "humane process” and stressed that the gas used in the experiment posed no threat to the local community.
"This exercise was carried out in a very humane manner and there was no risk to any human or animal health in the vicinity,” explained Pat Mescall, superintendant vetinary inspector with the Department of Agriculture, Limerick.
Mr Mescall said the training exercise was "very successful” and added that department staff were now in a much better position to deal with any possible outbreak of bird flu having witnessed today’s experiment.
"We knew it could be done in theory and now we’ve seen it done in practice so it was definitly a success and we would certainly feel more confident dealing with an affected shed should an outbreak occur and we proved it can be done with no risk to human health or the health of other animals, "
According to Mr Mescall the poultry used in the excercise were chosen because they had reached the end of their productive lives.
The dead chickens will now be sent to a rendering plant where their carcasses will be burnt and converted into bone meal, he added.
"None of these animals will end up in the human food chain,” he stressed.
A total of 25 vetinary staff were engaged in yesterday’s exercise with a further 35 staff observing the training event.
At no point was any member of staff inside the shed and the Carbon Dioxide used was pumped in from outside.
The farm in question was chosen because of it’s quiet locatation and because there were no other animal sheds on the site and no dwelling house, according to the Department of Agriculture.
http://www.limerickpost.ie/dailynews.elive?id=7334&category=Daily-Wed
Seems pretty extreme for an "exercise"???!!!
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Ireland - Chickens culled to test bird flu contingency plans 
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