The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service recently announced the approval of additional funding to strengthen efforts to respond and contain an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza.
According to a May 27 news release, the virus has been confirmed in 35 states already and has affected more than 37.9 million birds. In the event of emergency animal and plant disease outbreaks, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is authorized to transfer funding to APHIS from available resources and has approved $400 million to be transferred from the Commodity Credit Corporation.
“Continuing our nationwide response to highly pathogenic avian influenza is critical to minimizing the impact on our nation’s poultry industry,” USDA Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt said in the release. “Safeguarding U.S. poultry and egg producers from the effects avian influenza could have on agriculture and trade is a critical aspect of this response, and this funding will allow APHIS personnel to continue to deploy and support the emergency wherever they are needed.”
According to the release, the $400 million investment builds on $130 million in emergency funding Vilsack approved in mid-March and an additional $263 million in late-April to HPAI response efforts.
Since the last CCC funding transfer investment in April, HPAI has been detected in 151 new flocks across nine new states, the release reported. APHIS is urging bird owners to keep poultry away from contact with wild birds and to keep them inside to avoid the spread of HPAI.
