Some 124 outbreaks of avian flu infection identified, including 119 in the Landes, more than double the number recorded a week ago: the government announced Thursday evening an increase in preventive slaughter of ducks, facing "the extreme contagiousness of the virus ".
Evoking their "powerlessness" in front of a situation "out of control", professionals of foie gras urged the health authorities to proceed to preventive slaughter of more massive ducks.
"We are asking for a crawl space [a period without animals in the farms, editor's note], we see that the situation is out of control, that we no longer control the virus. There is no other solution," a declared to AFP Hervé Dupouy, breeder in Castelnau-Tursan and president of the FNSEA palmipeds section of the Landes.
"We depopulate the entire department, and after we create a crawl space and in two months, we can put animals back and start producing again," he pleaded, protesting against the "slowness of the administration" faced with this bird flu.
350,000 ducks slaughtered
Thursday evening, the Ministry of Agriculture announced the strengthening of preventive slaughterings in force since December 24 and which have already led to the elimination of more than 350,000 ducks.
"It is necessary to sharply reduce the density of poultry in the most populated territories," said the ministry, while Minister Julien Denormandie is expected in the Landes on Friday.
In particular, these slaughterings carried out this Thursday over a radius of 3 km around the outbreaks will be carried out over 5 km.
In the first kilometer, they will concern all farmed and backyard birds, and for the following four all palmipeds and other non-enclosed poultry.
The 10 km surveillance zone around the outbreaks could be extended up to 20 km, with a ban on the exit and entry of poultry.
"We have a virus that is stronger than us. There are always new outbreaks that appear", laments the director of the interprofessional foie gras (Cifog), Marie-Pierre Pé, who draws a "report of helplessness "in front of the" galloping inflation "of homes.
In addition to the 119 outbreaks identified in the Landes, others at this stage more isolated have been identified in the neighboring departments of Hautes-Pyrénées (two), Pyrénées-atlantiques (two) and Gers (one).
The ministry's previous report, on January 1, reported 61 confirmed outbreaks of avian influenza (commonly known as avian flu) in farms and animal facilities, including 48 in the Landes.
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"In war mode"
During the winters of 2015-16 and 2016-17, episodes of avian influenza led to the slaughter of millions of ducks and prolonged production stoppages.
To strengthen biosecurity, the industry has invested "hundreds of thousands of euros" in Chalosse, in the Landes, where influenza is raging again, according to the director of Cifog.
In total, "more than 5 million" palmipeds are being farmed for their foie gras in a large production area straddling the Landes, Gers and Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
The agricultural unions Confédération paysanne and Modef oppose the slaughter of healthy animals.
But "there are not fifty ways to cut short the circulation of this virus", told AFP Bernard Malabirade, president of the chamber of agriculture of Gers.
"We are in war mode against this virus."
At the same time, Cifog "asks to reactivate the aid system put in place in 2017", including aid for hatcheries, breeders, but also processing companies "which will be in lack of raw material".
"Proving the effectiveness of the French health system"
Minister Julien Denormandie will come on Friday "to demonstrate the solidarity of the State": "a deposit system to compensate for the value of slaughtered animals is already in place, the first payments will be made in the coming days".
The H5N8 strain, which is also rife elsewhere in Europe, was spotted for the first time in a farm in France in early December, triggering in particular an embargo by China against French poultry.
France hopes to conclude an agreement to be able to export to China from the territories that have remained free.
The imperative is "to manage this crisis quickly and well, including through radical measures, to show [to importing countries] how our health system is effective and helps to contain the disease", emphasized Wednesday Isabelle Chmitelin, the Managing Director of Chambers of Agriculture France.