“That’s where the problem arose”, explains Thierry Lumineau, indicating a building of 1,800 square meters. The chicken coop, which housed 13,000 turkeys, is completely empty. “We had the first cases and in seventy-two hours it was over. All shattered! », loose the poultry farmer, a stocky sexagenarian with a well-trimmed gray mustache. Despite a strict health protocol, his farm, located in Sèvremont, in Vendée, on the border of Deux-Sèvres, did not escape the bird flu. This disease, which is very rarely transmitted to humans, is very contagious and often fatal for birds. “However, I can tell you that I used it, soap and disinfectant”says Thierry Lumineau.
Since the beginning of the epizootic, in November 2021, 16 million poultry have been slaughtered in France, announced on Monday May 2, the Ministry of Agriculture, which underlines however that “the epidemic peak was passed at the end of March”. Since the first case identified, in the Nord department, 1,364 farms have been contaminated. Never seen. In 2021, nearly five hundred sources of contamination had been identified and 3.5 million animals, mainly ducks, slaughtered. Usually, the virus mainly affects duck farms in the Southwest. This year, the majority of outbreaks (857) have been identified in Vendée and in the neighboring departments, where the authorities have ordered mass slaughter of sick animals, but also healthy, as a preventive measure.
This crisis has a considerable cost. For the State, which compensates the breeders for the animals killed and the economic losses induced, and for the professionals, who will only receive part of the aid at the end of the year. In addition, when a site is decimated, it must be decontaminated and await the agreement of the authorities before welcoming new chicks. However, these poultry will not be mature for slaughter for several weeks. Each day of “crawl space” therefore constitutes a shortfall, despite the compensation paid by the government. “We have a cash hole, while the bills continue to fall”summarizes Thierry Lumineau, who had to take out a bank loan.
“Virus bombs”
“I’m afraid of the future. I don’t want to go through that again. But I will continue. No choice “assures the Vendéen, who specifies that his infrastructures are in any case not adapted to other species of animals. ” You want me to do what ? Hedgehog breeding? Poultry is what I know how to do »he adds in a gruff tone, but making a good heart against bad luck: “There’s no point in yelling, is there?” » He does not intend to change his production system either: “Whether the animals are raised in the open air or in henhouses does not change anything. It’s carnage everywhere! »
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