Overview
- An order published in the Journal officiel elevates metropolitan France’s avian influenza risk from moderate to high effective October 22, triggering legally required protective measures.
- High risk status requires housing poultry and safeguarding feed and water in flocks over 50 birds, with smaller flocks enclosed or covered by nets and limited outdoor access allowed only under specific prefectoral conditions.
- The Agriculture Ministry reports seven recent highly pathogenic avian influenza foci in under two weeks, including four in commercial farms and three in backyard flocks, with one case involving 2,000 vaccinated ducks in Lot-et-Garonne.
- Authorities point to confirmed cases in migratory wild birds and infection dynamics along migration corridors as the basis for the heightened alert during the autumn movement of wild birds.
- Duck vaccination has been mandatory since autumn 2023 and is credited with curbing major epizootics, while the state’s share of vaccination costs dropped to 40% this season, prompting criticism from the Coordination rurale farmers’ union.