USDA launches campaign to educate bird owners

Washington-Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced an awareness campaign entitled "Biosecurity for the Birds," to educate noncommercial bird owners on avian health and poultry diseases.

The USDA's intent is to inform people who raise poultry or exotic birds about symptoms associated with avian influenza (AI) and exotic Newcastle disease (END). The campaign includes an expanded emergency poultry surveillance and outreach program with emphasis on backyard poultry in states considered at high risk for poultry diseases.

Biosecurity for the Birds informs poultry owners about signs of serious poultry diseases, asks them to report sick birds and gives information on how to keep their birds healthy and safe.

An outbreak of END in 2002 and 2003 spurred the creation of the campaign. The disease cost California and the federal government $180 million to eliminate. The USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will subsidize testing costs.