Avian influenza starts spreading again in Canadian poultry

CANADA – Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is once again being detected in Canadian commercial poultry after a four-month gap.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) reported on September 8 that two separate flocks in Alberta had tested positive for the virus.

One flock is located in Strathcona County and the other in Beaver County, but the agency has not specified the bird species or the number of animals involved.

The last time the virus was found in a commercial poultry operation in Canada was May 2, when a duck and turkey farm in Wallace, Manitoba was hit.

Since then, cases have been limited to backyard flocks and wild birds, although surveillance and monitoring continued across the country.

The Alberta cases are the first commercial detections of HPAI in the province this year.

Alberta’s most recent commercial outbreak before now was confirmed in Camrose County on November 12, 2024.

Virus presence across provinces

According to CFIA records, commercial farms in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have all reported infections in 2025.

This shows the virus remains active in several regions despite periods where no commercial detections were reported.

U.S. link to recent detections

The confirmation in Alberta comes less than a week after U.S. officials verified three outbreaks in neighboring states.

Two commercial operations in South Dakota and one in North Dakota reported infections between August 28 and September 4.

Before those cases, the United States had not logged a commercial flock infection since July 24.

The timing of the outbreaks on both sides of the border highlights the challenges of controlling the spread of HPAI during seasonal migration and changing weather conditions.

Authorities in Canada continue to monitor the situation closely, while response protocols are being applied to the affected farms in Alberta.

The CFIA has not released further details about the scale of losses or the specific measures being implemented at the two locations.

For now, poultry producers across the region are being urged to maintain strict biosecurity as investigations into the source of the infections continue.

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