News item | 03-11-2023 | 17:51
The Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV) has decided to immediately withdraw the cage and shielding obligation for poultry for the Gelderland valley. The reason for this is that there have been no outbreaks since July and the number of infections in wild birds in both the Netherlands and Europe is small. With the decision of the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the general obligation to keep indoors disappears completely.
Risk in the poultry sector is low
The Animal Diseases Expert Group currently estimates the risk of contamination of a poultry farm to be low. The last infection in the Netherlands on a poultry farm was on July 24. There have also been few infections in poultry farms in other European countries in the recent period.
The Animal Diseases Expert Group meets regularly to provide a new risk assessment of the bird flu situation. Based on this risk assessment and other interests, such as the consequences of the long-term cage obligation for poultry farmers, hobby farmers and poultry, Minister Piet Adema (LNV) has decided to lift the cage and shield obligation in the two regions where the Gelderland valley is located. . These were the only regions where the shelter-in-place requirement still applied.
Relaxation of visitor ban
Zoos had been faced with a ban on allowing visitors into bird enclosures for two years. Because contact between visitors and birds in bird enclosures in zoos is limited, and the risk of contamination is lower compared to the previous situation, this ban is no longer necessary. This concerns zoos as referred to in the Animal Keepers Decree. Due to the change in this regulation, zoos are now treated the same as non-commercial farms with visitors. The visitor ban still applies to commercial poultry farms, unless there is a valid reason for the visit.
Alertness remains necessary
The virus is still present in wild birds, and new variants of the virus can be brought along with bird migration. For this reason, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality continues to closely monitor the situation. It is also of the utmost importance that poultry farmers remain alert and report possible suspicions as quickly as possible. If the situation changes, this may give rise to new measures.
The risk of the bird flu virus from poultry infecting humans (zoonosis) is still small in the Netherlands.