More than a dozen major commercial poultry production facilities all across Indiana have been hit with Bird Flu since the beginning of the year. Not only are State Health Officials trying to battle the virus, but they’re also trying to battle the mountain of misinformation that’s being spread on social media.
“That’s the challenge that we are up against. For the poultry producers across our state, this is a very true reality,” says Dr. Kyle Shipman, State Veterinarian with the Indiana State Board of Animal Health.
He explains the reasons behind the current protocol for depopulating entire flocks of birds whenever there’s a positive test for the virus.
“Ultimately that’s two-fold—to prevent disease spread, as well as to ensure that the animals aren’t suffering from this virus,” says Shipman. “This virus kills these birds rapidly, and it’s not a good death. We want to work with the producers in these very trying times to make sure that we can decrease the amount of virus that is being produced by removing flocks off of the landscape that have been detected with this virus.”