"In order to guarantee the well-being of poultry at a time when a major heat wave affects the department, the containment measures can be lifted for all farms with outdoor routes intended for poultry", can we read in the press release.
On June 8, the Ministry of Agriculture had reduced all the French departments from the "moderate" risk level to "negligible", but certain areas most affected by the epizootic, such as Vendée, remained affected by sanitary measures.
Breeders in the north-east of the department, in the so-called "protection" zone, always had the obligation to keep the poultry inside the buildings.
This new reduction in health measures "is made possible by the absence of signs of avian influenza in Vendée as in the neighboring departments", specifies the prefecture.
However, the authorities are maintaining measures aimed at avoiding contact with wild birds, such as sheltering water and food points.
Maine-et-Loire has made the same arrangements, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
There is "no national directive" but at the local level, the "prefects arbitrate between the health risk and animal welfare", the ministry told AFP.
The avian flu epizootic (2021-22) has been on an unprecedented scale with 16 million poultry slaughtered since November, including 11 million in the Great West.
© 2022 AFP