Due to the increasing bird flu, France has now also introduced a general obligation to keep poultry in the pen. Authorities have ordered all outdoor poultry farms to keep their animals indoors.
Livestock farmers have been told to install nets and keep their poultry indoors this winter to avoid possible contact with infected migratory birds.
The risk level for bird flu was raised to "high" in rural France on Friday, due to more and more confirmed infections. France had already raised the alert level for bird flu to "moderate" in September after a serious form of the virus was discovered in the Ardennes.
Under the new restrictions, poultry exhibits and competition flights in the pigeon competitions are banned until March, while birds in zoos must also be contained or vaccinated.
“Since early August, 130 cases or outbreaks of avian influenza have been detected in birds in the wild or on farms in Europe,” the French Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement. Poultry farmers in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands have all reported outbreaks in recent weeks. Dutch commercial companies were also ordered last week to keep all poultry indoors, while tens of thousands of animals were culled in Flevoland and elsewhere.
In addition, southwestern France is still recovering from a previous flu outbreak that saw more than 3.5 million birds culled last winter. The French government hopes to prevent a similar massive outbreak this winter with increased measures. Currently, the government allows poultry older than ten weeks to be kept in pens or a small space.
But the obligation to keep the cages is often opposed by French poultry farmers, as the Christmas sale of turkeys and foie gras is just around the corner. In a joint statement, the trade unions Confédération Paysanne and Modef said the French government had "declared war on many peasants."
“The agriculture minister is choosing to sacrifice the free-range sector in hopes of keeping the industrial sector exporting for as long as possible,” they said. So far, commercial farms in France are still "free" from bird flu, meaning export sales have not been affected.