DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Millions of Iowa birds killed or destroyed in the wake of a bird flu outbreak should be disposed of or incinerated within the next week, according to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The dead birds are piling up at poultry facilities. The disposal will happen barring another large outbreak, Vilsack - a former Iowa governor - told The Des Moines Register (https://dmreg.co/1AqDq92 ) on Friday.
Vilsack said a “backlog of birds” has developed because of complicated negotiations with Iowa landfills over accepting the animals.
In the past week, two landfills - one in northwest Iowa, the other in southwest Iowa - have agreed to take some of the estimated 25 million birds either stricken by avian influenza or killed to stop the spread of the disease.
Vilsack also said a larger incinerator is being moved into northwest Iowa this weekend.
“We want to get rid of those birds as quickly as possible,” Vilsack said in a meeting Friday with Gov. Terry Branstad, other state officials, industry leaders, and turkey and egg producers.
Some Iowa Republicans, including U.S Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and U.S. Rep. Steve King, have been critical of the U.S. Agriculture Department’s handling of the outbreak.
The outbreak has led to the death of more than 20 million egg-laying hens over the last month in the top egg producing state of Iowa. Nationwide, the H5N2 virus has killed more than 40 million birds - mostly turkeys and egg-laying chickens - either from the disease itself or from euthanasia to prevent the spread of the disease.
Vilsack said his agency took early action to get $413 million set aside to respond to the outbreak and provide reimbursement to producers for the birds destroyed to contain the disease.
About $150 million is expected to be paid to producers to help compensate them for losses, possibly more, Vilsack said.
The agency, he said, has as many as 1,500 federal and contracted workers responding to the disease.
“We’re trying to detect the virus as quickly as possible, quarantine the farms and mitigate the risk it will spread,” he said. “But it’s a tricky virus, and it can spread a multitude of ways.”
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Information from: The Des Moines Register, https://www.desmoinesregister.com
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