A Wairarapa egg farmer is trialling lockdown procedures for his hens and an industry group is warning New Zealand needs to get on a wartime footing — ahead of the potential arrival of bird flu.
“We’ve been given this blessed window that other countries haven’t been able to have around getting prepared, we can’t squander the opportunity,” Wairarapa Eggs owner Chris Martin said.
The highly contagious disease has killed millions of birds overseas since emerging in 2020, according to the Ministry for Primary Industries. The Government agency states human infection is rare.
“Generally, it’s only occurred in people who have had a lot of contact with infected birds or other infected animals,” MPI’s website states.
MPI states thoroughly cooked poultry and eggs will be safe to consume even if the virus hits New Zealand, as avian influenza is sensitive to heat treatment.
However, Martin has prepared a three-tier biosecurity response plan for his egg farm and says it takes time to create and revise. At the third level, if bird flu was detected in Wairarapa region, his free-range hens would be confined to the covered area instead of roaming between inside and outside, to prevent infection from a wild bird.
His covered areas were being redesigned and reconstructed to prevent a wild bird such as a sparrow being able to get through spaces like wire diamond mesh fence.
If the virus was found in the region, fewer people would be allowed to enter the areas where flocks are kept and those who were allowed, would wear personal protective equipment to prevent potential transfer of the disease from human to bird, he says. Biosecurity sign-in processes for visitors to the property have also been revised for the bird flu risk.
A pecking block, hanging hay and hanging baby toy have been introduced to the covered areas to see which item or items the hens respond to, to act as a form of enrichment if birds cannot go outside during a bird flu outbreak in the region.
“We are now trialling things to know that when that happens, we know what’s going to work,” Martin says.
Last perch on Earth
Oceania is the only continent without the H5N1 strain and MPI stated it expected the scourge would be brought here by a migrating wild bird.
Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard urged everyone to play their part in preparing for the virus’ potential arrival. The MPI website has information for a range of bird owners, and prevention advice.
“Whether you’ve just got some pet birds at home, whether you’ve got a small little poultry flock at home, whether you’re a commercial owner, if you’re just someone that’s walking past and see sick looking birds, there’s advice for everyone there,” Hoggard said.
Ministry of Primary Industry (MPI) surveillance and preparation work was being completed through baseline funding for the agency. Advice would be provided to the Government if more funding was required, a spokesperson said in a statement.
“The level of funding required is determined by the individual circumstances of each biosecurity issue or event,” the spokesperson stated.
“Bird flu readiness work is being done across MPI and involves input from many teams including market access and trade, science and testing, policy, communications, food safety, biosecurity, and vets.”
The Department of Conservation’s preparation work, including trialling vaccines on captive native birds, has been funded from existing budgets too, a spokesperson confirmed in an email.
“DOC’s investment in preparing for a potential bird flu response is approximately $70,000 to date. This includes costs for the vaccination trial and contracting additional vet capacity but doesn’t include DOC staff time,’ the spokesperson stated.
The Ministry of Health, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora and the poultry industry were also contributing to preparation work.
Egg Producers Federation executive director Michael Brooks said: “We’re rightly concerned because we’re a country that’s been free of major poultry diseases so we’re really moving from a peacetime setting you may say to a wartime setting trying to prepare for this tremendous risk to our industry,”
Brooks said egg producers, especially free range businesses, were encouraged to take up a free biosecurity assessment by an independent auditor the association has arranged. He said this would help producers understand where improvements coulkd be made for preparing facilities for the bird flu risk.
‘Nervous’ wait for pet owners
Parrot Society of New Zealand President Hayden van Hooff said members of the breeding and enthusiast group were “nervous” about the potential impact of bird flu on species and how the export industry could be affected.
Van Hooff says for some members, their parrot was like a family member.
He said MPI needed to laos consult with breeder groups and he was concerned advice for protecting birds has been slow to emerge in New Zealand.
“So the person that has one bird as a pet in their house, it is important that they keep that bird indoors moving forward, no sparrows sitting on any cages, nothing can get in and out, these are just basic simple things that aren’t actually being relayed to the public until now,” he said.
