Concerns grow over bird flu: economic, job losses in Iowa

DES MOINES — Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday there is growing concern about economic and job losses that Iowa may incur due to ongoing problems associated with a bird flu outbreak that has hit the state's poultry industry.

Speaking at his weekly news conference, the six-term governor did not offer any preliminary cost estimates due to a virus that has killed more than 26 million commercial chickens and turkeys, but he told reporters 'this is a significant loss and we're very concerned.'

Branstad said he recently talked with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack — a former Iowa governor — about the financial and job losses to commercial poultry producers and requested a secretarial disaster designation now that the virus has moved into Iowa. However, Vilsack indicated government program loan assistance is higher than the conventional loan rate, so a federal designation 'probably is not going to do any good,' Branstad said.

Disposing of the dead birds killed by the flu epidemic has become a growing concern as producers look to landfills or other methods for dealing with chicken and turkey carcasses. Branstad said he hoped Iowa landfills would not try to take advantage of the situation by 'gouging' poultry producers with exorbitant landfill fees.

'We want them to be compensated fairly,' he said of the landfills, 'but it's not appropriate to gouge people when you have a disaster situation like this. I would just appeal to them to be reasonable and fair in determining what the reasonable fees should be.'

Branstad said Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey and Chuck Gipp, director of the state Department of Natural Resources, also have sent a letter to the state's landfills, explaining that millions of dead chickens and turkeys are being properly prepared for burial in 'an appropriate and correct way,' and he hoped landfill operators would to be 'reasonable and fair' in determining the appropriate fees for accepting the birds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has an indemnification program that would cover much of the 'fair market value' of the birds as well as their depopulation and disposal, but not state costs associated with the monitoring and testing.

In early May, Branstad declared a state of emergency in Iowa through the month in an effort to contain the bird flu outbreak. The governor said the state of emergency was called to activate Iowa's emergency response operations center in Johnston and bring to bear a coordinated, ongoing effort of state, federal and local agencies to deal with the situation.

No decision has been made whether to extend the declaration beyond May 31, said Branstad spokesman Jimmy Centers.

'The governor will continue to closely monitor the situation with regards to the bird flu virus in Iowa,' Centers said in a statement. 'As we approach the end of May, the governor will assess the situation and determine if an extension is necessary.'

By Monday afternoon, officials with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship reported four new probable cases of highly pathogenic bird flu in Sac and Sioux counties, bringing to 56 the number of cases in Iowa and to nearly 26 million the total of affected birds.

The new cases involved two turkey farms in Sac County and separate disease reports in backyard flocks of ducks and chickens in Sioux County. State ag officials quarantined the premises and said that once the presence of the disease is confirmed, all birds on the properties will be humanely euthanized to prevent the spread of the disease.

State officials noted that the Centers for Disease Control and Iowa Department of Public Health considers the health risk to people to be low from these infections in wild birds, backyard flocks and commercial poultry. No human infections with the virus have ever been detected and there is no food safety risk for consumers.

An updated list of bird flu information can be found at the state department of agriculture's website.