{"id":929681,"date":"2026-10-16T01:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929681\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T01:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T01:04:14","slug":"poultry-lockdown-in-victoria-lifted-despite-bird-flu-infections-in-wildlife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/929681\/","title":{"rendered":"Poultry lockdown in Victoria lifted despite bird flu infections in wildlife"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lockdown order to protect Victorian poultry farms from H5N1 bird flu is being lifted today, despite the continuing spread of the deadly disease among wildlife.<\/p>\n

Flocks of 50 or more birds in metropolitan Melbourne and southern parts of the state have been forced to stay indoors, or be confined, since the order was first announced<\/a> in early August.<\/p>\n

H5N1 is spreading among wildlife in Australia but has not been detected in poultry or livestock.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The control order applied in Melbourne and across southern parts of Victoria. (Supplied: Agriculture Victoria)<\/p>\n

Agriculture Victoria said it took into consideration “animal welfare” and “hotter than average” forecast summer temperatures when deciding to lift the housing order.<\/p>\n

Chief veterinary officer Graeme Cooke said farmers were supportive of the protection measures so far.<\/p>\n

He said producers needed to continue to protect their flocks from wildlife as much as possible.<\/p>\n

“Reducing contact between poultry and wild birds remains one of the most effective ways to lower the risk of disease,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We strongly encourage poultry owners to continue taking practical steps to separate birds wherever possible.”\"a<\/p>\n

Graeme Cooke says poultry flocks should be protected from wild birds. (ABC Landline: Tim Lee)<\/p>\n

Biosecurity ‘best defence’<\/p>\n

The lifting of the order brings 10 weeks of lockdown to an end for poultry farmers in Victoria’s south.<\/p>\n

“It’s been a huge joint effort to keep bird flu out of our commercial poultry industry,” Victorian Farmers Federation president Ryan Milgate said.<\/p>\n

\"man<\/p>\n

Ryan Milgate says farmers need to remain vigilant for any signs of bird flu. (ABC News: Sean Warren)<\/p>\n

“Strong biosecurity practices remain our best defence to reducing the risk of disease outbreaks, such as H5.”<\/p>\n

Mr Milgate urged producers to stay on the lookout for sick or diseased birds.<\/p>\n

“We must not rest on our laurels and become complacent,” he said.<\/p>\n

There have been 234 confirmed events of H5N1 in wildlife in Victoria so far.<\/p>\n

And while the lockdown ends today, Dr Cooke says the risk of disease spread remains.<\/p>\n

“We will continue monitoring the risk closely and retain the ability to introduce additional controls if circumstances change.”<\/p>\n

Victorians have been told to avoid contact with unwell or dead wildlife.<\/p>\n

Reports can be made to the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888 or on the Agriculture Victoria website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lockdown order to protect Victorian poultry farms from H5N1 bird flu is being lifted today, despite the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,63,1845,496344,1886,84989,496343,137,496342,9786,427476,2185],"class_list":["post-929681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bird-flu","tag-chief-vet","tag-eggs","tag-free-range","tag-graeme-cooke","tag-health","tag-housing-order","tag-lockdown","tag-poultry-farms","tag-rural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}