Quarantine lifted on 25 Ontario poultry farms

The quarantine on 25 Oxford County poultry farms has been lifted after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency discovered avian flu on three farms in the area last April.

A second quarantine remains in effect, covering about 29 farms. Those restrictions are expected to be lifted in the next two weeks.

Eighty thousand turkeys and chickens were humanely euthanized at the three original sites.Farmers are still calculating the cost of their losses, said Ingrid Devisser, chair of the Feather Board Command Centre, an organization that represents poultry farmers.

• 29 Ontario farms under bird flu quarantine, CFIA says

"The farm that has the virus has to be completely depopulated, cleaned and disinfected and tested and then there is a 21 day fallow period, followed by some more testing and, when all that comes up negative, the quarantine zone is declared lifted by CFIA," said Devisser.

"The farmers who experienced the virus on their farms and had their farms depopulated were covered for that under the Health of Animals Act by the federal government. Of course, they also incurred costs of cleaning and disinfecting and there are other funds to cover that and then we'll see where it ends up in terms of out of pocket costs."

Devisseradded that the virus is thought to have beenspread by migratory birds.