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By Bloomberg

Poultry processors in British Columbia are striving to find enough turkeys for Christmas tables after avian influenza wiped out thousands of birds destined for the holiday feast.

Suppliers in Canada’s westernmost province are bringing in birds from other parts of the country to “make sure that no Christmas table will be without a turkey,” said Michel Benoit, general manager of Vancouver-based BC Turkey Farmers.

The outbreak, which prompted bans on British Columbia poultry from eight countries, has claimed 34,000 turkeys slated for Christmas consumption. The losses so far represent about 10 percent of holiday consumption .

“They were going to be Christmas turkeys,” Benoit said in a telephone interview. “It is a big loss.”

For farmers like Calvin Breukelman, 47, who lost a flock of 12,000 birds when a different strain of the virus hit his farm in the province’s Fraser Valley in 2004, the spread of the illness is a nerve-wracking prospect.

“It’s nervous times right now,” said Breukelman, who’s director of the B.C. Broiler Hatching Egg Commission. “The virus is a lot more virulent, it’s stronger and the risk of spreading is a lot higher.”

The disease, which so far has killed turkeys on three farms in the Fraser Valley in past weeks, spreads rapidly and may be identified on other locations in coming days, Harpreet Kochhar, chief veterinary officer at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, said on a Dec. 10 conference call. A control zone is restricting movement of birds where the virus was identified, he said.

‘Highly Contagious’

“This identification of additional farms is not unexpected given that avian influenza is highly contagious,” Kochhar said.

Chickens are also succumbing to the virus. All told, about 155,000 birds in the Fraser Valley died of flu or are set to be euthanized with carbon dioxide gas and then composted after avian influenza was detected at eight sites.

The U.S., Taiwan and South Africa are among countries that have imposed temporary restrictions on poultry from British Columbia, the third-largest turkey-producing province in Canada.

The H5N2 strain of avian flu detected at two of the farms has a high death rate among birds, according to a government statement. Cases of a less severe strain were reported in British Columbia in 2009 and in Manitoba in 2010.

The province will probably need to import as many as 3 million broiler hatching eggs from the U.S. in 2015 to offset losses from avian flu, Breukelman, the farmer, said.

Holiday Shortfall

Sofina Foods, British Columbia’s largest turkey processor, has covered its holiday shortfall with birds from eastern Canada and the U.S., said Jeff McDowell, vice-president of the company’s poultry value chain. Demand for turkeys peaks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when 80 percent of consumption occurs, he said.

“It was a bit of a challenge for us to source product, but we were able to do it,” McDowell said by phone from the company’s processing facility in Abbotsford, southeast of Vancouver. While no further shortfalls are expected, there are concerns “tomorrow there could be an outbreak at another farm.”

Benoit of BC Turkey Farmers expects the efforts to bring in turkeys from elsewhere should suffice to prevent any shortage.

Deadly Silence

Chickens on infected farms showed classic symptoms of avian influenza -- their heads were so swollen their eyes were closed, their lungs were full of inflammation and congestion, and there were small hemorrhages throughout the body and on their shins, said Jane Pritchard, chief veterinary officer for British Columbia’s agriculture ministry.

The turkeys died suddenly, and there were no immediate signs pointing to what killed them, she said.

“It’s called the cathedral effect,” Pritchard said on a Dec. 4 conference call. “Usually when you walk into the flock it’s quite busy and noisy, but with avian influenza you walk in and it’s silent.”