The final duck farm on New York’s Lengthy Island is going through an unsure future after a fowl flu outbreak pressured the culling of practically 100,000 geese.
The extremely contagious H5N1 avian flu, in any other case often known as fowl flu, was detected on the farm final week prompting a government-mandated quarantine and disinfection course of.
“This has spread like wildfire here,” Doug Corwin, who’s a part of the fourth technology of his household to function Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue, which has been open since 1908, advised The New York Occasions.
“I have done this all my life, and we are the last of this industry,” Corwin mentioned. “It is gut-wrenching. You work your whole life for something, and then one day everything is gone.”
The farm, which provides duck to eating places throughout the Northeast—together with New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Boston—produces 3.5% of the geese bought in the USA.
It’s also the final remaining duck farm on Lengthy Island, which had 90 farms within the mid-Twentieth century.
The Suffolk County Well being Division, which confirmed the outbreak on Tuesday, mentioned state and federal officers have been conducting “depopulating, cleaning and disinfection activities” on the facility.
The danger to people continues to be thought of low, although transmission is feasible for farm employees who deal with contaminated flock, in keeping with Dr. Gregson Pigott, the Suffolk County well being commissioner.
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed 67 human instances of H5N1 since final yr, together with one demise in Louisiana.
Whereas Crescent Duck Farm’s future is in jeopardy, Corwin mentioned he has some hope for restoration.
Authorities officers have agreed to spare a number of thousand eggs, which a neighborhood hatchery has provided to hatch. This might permit Corwin to protect the farm’s prized genetic pressure of geese, identified for his or her tender meat and meat-to-fat ratio.
“The reason I am in still in business is my genetics, and if I can’t preserve my genetics, then I am worthless as far as duck farming goes,” Corwin advised The Occasions. “My customers are people who use multiple ducks a night—chefs who use duck after duck after duck.”
Nonetheless, Corwin mentioned he’s hesitant to rebuild until the U.S. Division of Agriculture approves a vaccine for the virus.
“I don’t want to go through all of this again,” he mentioned.
The outbreak has already pressured Crescent Duck Farm to put off 45 of its 75 staff.
“I’ve seen a lot of things in my years, but I haven’t seen anything like this,” Corwin concluded.
Extra data:
The U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention has extra on the present state of affairs of fowl flu.
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Chook flu outbreak forces culling of 100,000 geese, threatening final duck farm in lengthy island (2025, January 24)
retrieved 25 January 2025
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