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Iowa bans showing and selling all birds because of bird flu

Bird flu forced the cancellation of all exhibitions, auctions and sales of live birds at the Iowa State Fair and at all county fairs throughout the state.

Bird flu forced the cancellation of all exhibitions, auctions and sales of live birds at the Iowa State Fair and at all county fairs throughout the state.

The order to cancel those and all “other gatherings of birds” was issued Thursday, May 21, 2015, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The order began immediately and was expected to remain in effect through the end of 2015.

The order cancels “all live bird exhibitions at county fairs, the Iowa State Fair, and other gatherings of birds due to avian influenza,” and “also prohibits live birds from being sold at livestock auction markets, swap meets and exotic sales,” according to a statement from the Iowa Department of Agriculture.

The Iowa Turkey Federation and Iowa Poultry Association both recommended that bird exhibitions be cancelled this year due to avian influenza.

"Some 4-H'ers will be disappointed that they won't be able to exhibit their poultry projects at fairs this summer, but we're exploring alternate learning opportunities to offer them at fairs and will share more details as plans develop,” said Iowa State University Extension 4-H Livestock Specialist Mike Anderson.

“No human infections of the virus have ever been detected and there is no food safety risk for consumers,” the statement said.

More than 60 sites, and more than 25 million birds, were affected with highly pathogenic avian influenza as of Wednesday, May 20, 2015.

Iowa is the leading egg-production state in the U.S. and is among the top ten turkey-producing states.

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