Control zones set up in Fraser Valley, B.C., after Newcastle disease detected

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is seen in Ottawa on Wednesday, June 26, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

CHILLIWACK — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has put up controls on the movements of birds around two commercial poultry farms experiencing the first outbreaks of virulent Newcastle disease in Canada in more than 50 years.

The establishment of the primary control zones in the Fraser Valley means that birds, byproducts and items that have contacted the birds cannot be moved within or through the areas without permission.

The agency says the virus affects both wild and domestic birds and can cause pink eye in humans, and birds at the infected farms must be culled.

The agency says that before the disease was detected in B.C. this month, including at a commercial pigeon operation, the last infections in Canada were reported in 1973.

The CFIA says the ailment is of great concern to the world’s agricultural community since it’s highly contagious and threatens poultry.

It says Newcastle disease can decrease egg production in domestic birds and cause high numbers of sudden deaths in a flock, while wild birds can develop wing paralysis and be left unable to fly.

It says the risk to humans is low if gloves are worn while handling infected birds, and that the disease was rarely found to kill wild birds before 1990.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 20, 2025.