03.12.2014

The H5 avian influenza virus has been detected on two poultry farms in the Fraser Valley east of Vancouver. Testing found the virus at a turkey farm in Abbotsford and a broiler chicken breeding facility in Chilliwack. The two farms were placed under quarantine. Heavy mortality was observed in the two affected farms. The two farms are about eight kilometres apart, on either side of the Vedder River. About half of the 11,000 birds on the Abbotsford turkey farm and 1,000 of the 7,000 birds on the Chilliwack farm have already died from the disease. The turkeys were 83 days old.