Document type : article published in Le Monde
Author: Le Monde, with AFP
Preview: Farmers are obliged to keep poultry indoors or install protective nets. These restrictions are justified by "the need to adopt urgent and immediate preventive measures to protect French poultry farms".
On Thursday 5 November, the French authorities designated 46 departments as being at 'high' risk from the introduction of avian influenza by migratory birds, in a a decree published in the French State's Official Journal, which, in particular, requires farmers to keep their poultry indoors or install protective nets.
These restriction measures are justified by "the need to adopt urgent and immediate preventive measures to protect French poultry farms from potential contamination with the avian influenza virus particularly from wild birds, in areas at particular risk or in those Departments containing migration corridors", the decree states.
Departments known for their foie gras production, such as the Landes and the Gers, in particular, are among these areas. The risk continues to be described as "moderate" in the other French Departments.
