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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 08:08

Government lifts requirement to keep domestic birds indoors

BC, Riga, 03.05.2017.Print version
The government today passed amendments to biosafety regulations, lifting the requirement to keep all domestic birds indoors to protect them from avian flu, governmental spokespeople informed LETA.

Under the amended regulations, the period for keeping fowl indoors has been shortened by nearly a month, as its end has been moved to May 3 from May 31. The Agriculture Ministry decided to revise the ban on letting birds go outdoors after consulting the Latvian Ornithology Society and the Food and Veterinary Service, and analyzing the current situation in Europe.


The amendments to the biosafety regulations will take effect upon their publication in the official gazette Latvijas Vestnesis.


Latvia and Estonia are the only EU member states still unaffected by avian flu. More than 2,000 outbreaks of avian flu have been reported across Europe since last October.


As reported, in order to protect the poultry sector from a possible outbreak of avian flu, poultry in Latvia had to be kept indoors from March 1 until June 1. Thus, all farms and bird keepers, including those with very small flocks, had to be ready for unannounced inspections of the Food and Veterinary Service.






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