Bird Flu Continues to Batter Sonoma County Poultry Industry Amid Big New Outbreak This Week

More cases of avian flu were detected this week at three additional Sonoma County poultry operations near Petaluma, including one that houses nearly half a million birds, hitting the largest facility since the disease began ripping through this area late last month.

That brings the total number of sites here to seven, prompting the euthanization of more than 1 million birds, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which tracks the outbreaks.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is typically spread from wild birds to farm-raised flocks through direct or indirect contact. The virus is often deadly to birds but is rarely transmitted to humans.

Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, said the ongoing winter migration of wild birds has contributed to the transmission of the virus.

“I haven’t really got any reports from the state veterinarian other than the fact that they had hoped, like us, this wouldn’t have been so severe already,” Mattos said. “We’re just starting the winter months. It isn’t even halfway through.”

Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt, who represents the district where all seven affected farms are located, said these outbreaks are financially and emotionally devastating to farmers who have to kill off and dispose of their entire flocks whenever the disease is detected.

“It’s just tragic. No other way to put it. I mean, the consequences of one infection … you lose your entire flock,” said Rabbitt, who confirmed that Sunrise Farms owns the site of the biggest outbreak.

Adding to the financial burden, he said, farmers at affected sites must also wait 120 days or pay for environmental testing before repopulating their flocks.

“The biggest concern of the producers is losing their customers, losing their clients, the markets,” Rabbitt said. “Because the markets are gonna have eggs on the shelves, and if they don’t get them from the producers right around Petaluma, they’re gonna get them from someone else.”

Rabbitt said the county has some resources to help struggling farmers but not nearly enough to cover the sizable damage already inflicted on the county’s $50 million poultry industry.

He added that two of the largest feed distributors in this rural area about 40 miles north of San Francisco have also lost roughly 60% of their business now that so many farms have been emptied and the demand for feed has plummeted.

The avian flu has been reported among farm-raised flocks at five other counties throughout the state in recent months, but only Merced County has seen a higher number of affected birds. Last week, farmers in a single facility in that county had to euthanize more than 1.3 million birds after the virus was detected.

Agriculture officials are also investigating a suspected outbreak at another Central Valley facility that houses more than 1 million egg-laying birds, according to Mattos of the California Poultry Federation.

“It’s a lot of birds, it’s terrible,” he said.