Avian flu: MELCC responsible for carcass collection

The Quebec Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change will be responsible for ensuring the removal and disposal of gannet carcasses infected with avian flu.

Mayor Jonathan Lapierre met last Wednesday afternoon with the various departments involved in the file.

He indicated that steps are being taken to obtain a government decree allowing a contract to be awarded by mutual agreement to a third party from the archipelago or from outside.

He also stated that the Municipality of the Islands does not have the resources to accomplish this task.

The strategy for locating the carcasses will involve flying over the territory with the help of drones.

The MNA for the Islands, Joël Arseneau, had demanded a quick intervention from Minister Benoît Charrette, who is in charge of the file.

He hopes to prevent the spread of the virus to poultry farms in the archipelago.

It is not yet known how the costs of the operation will be shared and what the timeline will be.

The presence of avian influenza in gannets was confirmed last Tuesday evening by the MFFP following autopsies performed on five carcasses taken from the Islands.