News item | 05-10-2022 | 19:47
As of October 5, 2022, Minister Piet Adema of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality will introduce a national obligation to cage and screen for locations with high-risk birds.
The decision is taken, inter alia, on the basis of a risk assessment by the expert group on animal diseases. The risk has increased, among other things, due to the high number of infections and the upcoming bird migration. In addition to the fact that this bird migration increases the risk of infections, migratory birds can also bring a new bird flu variant. The keeping and screening obligation is a preventive measure to reduce the risk of the introduction of bird flu virus in kept birds in the Netherlands. In a number of areas, a confinement and screening obligation was already in force.
Minister Piet Adema: “Introducing a national confinement and screening obligation in the affected regions is a step backwards for free-range poultry farms and hobby keepers. It is therefore difficult for me that this should be one of my first decisions as a minister. But the high number of infections makes it clear that extra precaution is needed.
The infestations and subsequent culls have continued throughout the past year, having a major impact on the sector and the animals. We are working hard to enable vaccination, and I will continue to talk to poultry farmers about an effective approach to avian flu.”
Whether the confinement obligation or the screening obligation applies at a location differs per type of location. The confinement obligation applies to keepers of commercially kept birds. These birds must be kept in a closed space, for example in the stable or a shed or a shed. An exception applies to commercially kept pheasants, ornamental waterfowl and ratites. There is no obligation to keep these birds in a cage, but the screening obligation mentioned below.
The protection obligation applies to keepers of zoos, petting zoos and owners of hobby birds – insofar as this concerns gallinaceous/chickens, waterfowl and ratites. As mentioned above, the shielding obligation also applies to commercially kept pheasants, ornamental waterfowl and ratites. The shielding obligation means that these keepers are obliged to shield the said animals in order to prevent the birds as much as possible from coming into contact with sick wild birds or their droppings. This can be done, for example, by keeping the animals in an aviary. On the website of the NVWA you can find more information about how this can best be done.