WELLINGTON COUNTY – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is monitoring the movement of poultry in and out of Wellington County after a second case of bird flu was detected in the county in a commercial duck herd. A CFIA spokesman confirmed via email that the highly pathogenic strain of bird flu, called H5N1, was found Monday in the City of Center Wellington “related to the poultry duck business.” This is the second case locally after the virus was detected on a Guelph / Eramosa turkey farm in late March, but it is the sixth outbreak in the province. Every contaminated plant has been quarantined and the CFIA recommends enhanced biosecurity for other farms in the area. On March 31, the CFIA established the PCZ in areas where the disease has been detected. This means that birds, their products, by-products and things exposed to birds cannot be moved in or out of the zone without permission from the CFIA. One of the control zones includes sections of the Guelph / Eramosa and Center Wellington, including Elora, Salem Ponsonby, Inverhaugh, Ariss, Ennotville and West Fergus. This control area also includes much of the municipality of Woolwich and parts of the Waterloo area. A CFIA spokesman said earlier that the source of the epidemic was most likely wild birds and that it was spreading through migration.
