{"id":19781,"date":"2016-02-22T11:02:30","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T16:02:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=19781"},"modified":"2016-02-22T11:02:30","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T16:02:30","slug":"bird-health-awareness-week-feb-21-27-poultry-owners-urged-to-reassess-biosecurity-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2016\/02\/22\/bird-health-awareness-week-feb-21-27-poultry-owners-urged-to-reassess-biosecurity-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Bird Health Awareness Week, Feb. 21-27; Poultry Owners Urged to Reassess Biosecurity Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Edwin Remsberg<\/p><\/div>\n

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Feb. 22, 2016) <\/strong>\u2013 \u00a0Bird Health Awareness Week is Feb. 21-27, and the Maryland Department of Agriculture encourages all bird owners to use the week to assess and strengthen their biosecurity practices and prepare for a possible outbreak of High Path Avian Influenza (HPAI) this spring. HPAI \u2013 also called bird flu – entered the United States late in 2014 and lead to the eventual death of nearly 50 million birds in the Midwest last year. To date, it has been the most expensive agriculture disaster in U.S. history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game is not over yet. We must remain vigilant until the birds migrate back north,\u201d said Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. \u201cWe will be at the highest risk of getting the bird flu in Maryland this spring. If all flock owners practice strict biosecurity we will be in the best position to handle an outbreak.\u201d<\/p>\n

The department has a webpage dedicated to Avian (bird) Flu<\/a> with a lot of information about biosecurity and checklists that can help farmers, large and small, reduce the risk. The department also has a bird flu blog and bird flu twitter feed @MdBirdFlu that will be used if a case of bird flu is detected in the state.<\/p>\n

The University of Maryland Extension has also recently released three short videos:<\/p>\n