A hatchery in Monterey County, California, is taking a significant hit due to the bird flu infecting its animals.
Metzer Farms owner John Metzer told KSBW tens of thousands of ducks and geese had to be put down in November because of the illness, the outlet reported on Saturday, noting thousands of eggs were also destroyed.
“And it spreads like wildfire so if it comes onto a farm, you can’t just destroy all the birds in one building that were infected there; it spreads so easily that everything on the farm has to be put down,” he explained.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in light of the avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak, Breitbart News reported.
Prefacing his statement, the governor’s office said:
Governor Gavin Newsom today proclaimed a State of Emergency to streamline and expedite the state’s response to Avian influenza A (H5N1), commonly known as “Bird Flu.” This action comes as cases were detected in dairy cows on farms in Southern California, signaling the need to further expand monitoring and build on the coordinated statewide approach to contain and mitigate the spread of the virus. The virus has spread in 16 states among dairy cattle, following its first confirmed detection in Texas and Kansas in March 2024.
In April, the nation’s largest producer of fresh eggs temporarily halted production at a plant in Texas after it found bird flu in chickens, per Breitbart News.
“Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. — which is based in Ridgeland, Mississippi — said in a statement that an estimated 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets were destroyed after being infected with avian influenza at the facility in Parmer County, Texas,” the outlet stated.
Metzer, who believes migrating ducks may be to blame for the problem, explained that the issue has made things quite difficult for his farm after they had to put down over 13,000 birds.
“By losing potential income, because a lot of these birds were destined to start laying eggs in the spring when we need lots of eggs, and now they’re not going to do that, so we’re either going to be buying eggs, or we’ll be short in product for customers,” he said, adding he and his team were doing everything in their power to stop the disease.
The farm’s website offers “Biosecurity Guidelines” to help stop bird flu from spreading.
Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo spoke with KSBW. “Typically, it’s during the winter months when avian influenza is more prevalent here in California,” he explained. “The cooler weather, the migration of the birds in the fall, all of that has an impact, so we still have a ways to go here in our state to hopefully be able to get a handle and control of this virus.”