Agriculture Victoria declares end of H7N8 avian influenza outbreak
Poultry farmers are once again able to move birds across north-east Victoria without restriction after Agriculture Victoria declared an end to the latest avian influenza outbreak in the state.
In February, detections of the H7N8 bird flu strain were found on four commercial properties near Euroa.
The outbreak meant hundreds of thousands of birds had to be euthanised, while zones were set up that restricted the movement of birds, bird products and poultry equipment around the region.
Victoria's acting chief veterinary officer Sally Salmon said work by Agriculture Victoria meant those restrictions could be lifted, and thanked the poultry industry and local bird owners for their help in eradicating the outbreak.
"Early reporting from the first affected business meant we could act quickly, and their ongoing co-operation with all elements of the response has been a major factor in achieving eradication," Dr Salmon said.
She said more than 100 people had been deployed to clean and disinfect each site, as Agriculture Victoria officers visited 350 properties, took 20,600 samples, and completed 21,500 tests for the virus.
The Euroa incident was the second outbreak of avian influenza in a year, with the first outbreak occurring in May 2024, affecting several properties in south-west Victoria.
Victorian Farmers Federation Egg Group president and Werribee egg farmer Brian Ahmed said the end of the outbreak was welcome, and praised the work of Agriculture Victoria staff and farmers to eradicate the disease.
But Mr Ahmed said a push towards expanding free-range chicken farming needed to be re-considered because he believed it could lead to further outbreaks.
"As a farmer, I trust that the Agriculture Department has done their job and they wouldn't have lifted those restrictions unless they were quite comfortable that everything's been eradicated," he said.
But he said the next avian influenza outbreak wasn't a matter of "if" but "when".
"Unfortunately, government policies pushing our industry into non-cage systems with free-range [chickens] increases the risk of bird flu outbreaks.
"The free-range system was designed for small-scale farming and there's nothing wrong with that.
"But we're commercialising a farming system that was not designed for that, and we're going to have disease outbreaks like this more regularly, it's very clear."
The caged-egg farming system is set to be phased out by 2036 under Commonwealth guidelines, but details on how the phase-out will occur are yet to be released.
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