Iowa halts poultry exhibitions at fairs

DES MOINES - All live bird exhibitions at county fairs, the Iowa State Fair and other gatherings have been canceled through the end of the year in an effort to slow the spread of bird flu, state officials announced Thursday.

'It's a huge disappointment for all of the kids who have worked so hard to prepare for this event,” said Deb Zumbach, treasurer of the Linn County Fair Board.

The Linn County Fair, scheduled for June 23-29, typically features one of the largest poultry exhibitions in the state, Zumbach said.

More than 400 birds and 79 4-H Club members had already registered for the upcoming show, according to Heidi Steffen, marketing manager for the Linn County Fair.

The Iowa State Fair, which has featured poultry shows continuously since 1904, had more than 100 exhibitors and more than 1,000 exhibits, including ducks, geese and pigeons, signed up for this year's fair, slated for Aug. 13-23, according to State Fair spokeswoman Mindy Williamson.

The order, issued by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, also prohibits live birds from being sold at livestock auction markets, swap meets and exotic sales.

Also Thursday, the department announced that another probable case of highly pathogenic bird flu had been diagnosed in a laying flock in Buena Vista County, the northwest Iowa county's 17th case.

As in the state's 62 other cases, the premises have been quarantined, and the as-yet-unspecified population of birds on the property will be euthanized when the disease is confirmed.

Iowa, with more than 25 million chickens and turkeys impacted, has been hit harder than any other state by the H5N2 virus, with economic losses so far estimated at more than $300 million since the first Iowa case was announced April 14.

With the directive, the department intends to minimize the risk of further spread of the virus to other poultry.

'We are asking producers and bird owners to increase their biosecurity measures, and we feel this is a needed step to further minimize the risk of spreading the virus,” said Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.

The unprecedented scale of the outbreak requires 'every possible step to limit the chance that this disease will spread any further,” Northey said.

The Linn County Fair's poultry exhibition 'has grown quite a bit in recent years,” in part because the size of the animals makes poultry a more manageable project for 4-H Club members and especially those who do not live on farms, according to Linda Bigley, executive director of the Linn County Extension Office in Marion.

Bigley said she intends to meet with youth specialists to see if they can develop educational projects that would replace the fair exhibition for affected 4-H Club members.

The Iowa Turkey Federation and Iowa Poultry Association both recommended that bird exhibitions be canceled this year because of the bird flu outbreak.

Iowa State Fair CEO Gary Slater said fair officials understand that the decision was made in the best interest of exhibitors and the poultry industry.

'Some 4-H'ers will be disappointed that they won't be able to exhibit their poultry projects at fairs this summer, but we're exploring alternate learning opportunities to offer them at fairs and will share more details as plans develop,” said Mike Anderson, extension 4-H state livestock specialist and State Fair 4-H livestock superintendent.

Federal and state health officials consider the risk to the public from bird flu to be very low. There is no record of human infections and no food safety risk for consumers, they say.