July 19, 2026 • 7 mins
The director general of MPI updates the latest on the bird flu after Mainland Poultry, the country’s largest egg supplier, is putting hundreds of thousands of free-range chickens into lockdown following two positive cases last week.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It has been the big news story of the past
week here in New Zealand. Yes, the threat of bird flu. Now,
I note that New Zealand's largest egg supplier, Mainland Poultry,
is putting hundreds of thousands of free range chickens into
lockdown after the deadly bird flu virus was detected in
the country for the first time. We've had two cases.
(00:23):
To update the situation for us. The Director General of
mp I, Ray Smith Ray, did you have a busy
weekend keeping on the job here?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, we'll get a Jamie look acually my team, they've
been flat out last week actually with us and and
of course you'll note from you know, the various things
that we've been at together at field days and various
other presentations over the last couple of years with the
farming community. I've been talking about this bird flu potentially
coming to New Zealand, and of course it was the
(00:53):
risk was heightened for us when we did have that
big outbreak and Maine that a different sort of bird flu,
but it gave us an insight. But it is here now,
and of course there's been about seventeen cases in Australia
over the last month and so we expected to see
birds landing here with it as well. Only two detected
at this point, but given one of them is a
native bird in the wire rapper, you would expect that
(01:16):
we will find more.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So this highly pathogenic H five in one strain. Is
it worse than the strain from two years ago.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, different in terms of the mortality on the birds,
it's about the same. The difference is that this one
is spread by the wild bird population that have been
traveling across the world, particularly these big pelagic seabirds that
live out in the ocean and then come on too
land periodically.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So the difference here is this is spread by wildlife.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
The other one was more of a localized thing where
it was a low virus intensity that had come from
probably ducks or a swamp area in New Zealand that
had gotten into a poultry shed. And just remember poultry,
you know, don't have a long life in these production systems,
so they don't develop strong immunity, so the disease spreads
(02:09):
very quickly. So different, two different types of avian influenza.
This is the one we've always been worried about though,
because Jamie with the one that happened two years ago
mainland poultry, we could quarantine that facility, which is what
we did, and we worked with Mainland and we stamped
it out and that facility has been repopulated and it
didn't spread anywhere else in New Zealand. The difference here
(02:31):
is because this is in the wild bird population, it
will spread obviously with the wind, and so it's not
controllable in the sense of being able to quarantine or
stamp it out.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So basically you got to keep the chocks on the cover.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah. Well, look in the UK, where they'd had five
or six years of this, they they their experience and
we had people, industry people and MPI people go together
to the UK to look at their experience. It comes
in sort of waves and bits in the world that
you remember, we had these waves with COVID and we
still do a little bit now. It doesn't have much
prominence now.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
And what they do is they still have birds that
live outside.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
People still have free range operations, but periodically they have
to bring the birds inside and they house them as
these waves pass through. So we're right at the beginning
of this. So nobody quite knows how extensive the virus
is in New Zealand. Or how much spread there is
or quite where we are on that cycle.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, i'll tell you what. You guys at MPI and
I do pat you on the back, have done a
pretty good job of keeping our borders safe. But the
heroes behind the scenes, the public of New Zealand, I
know they were on the ball with the was it
the yellow legged hornet, the last critter that was causing
us a bit of grief? Well, you've had something like
one hundred and fifty seven notifications on Saturday alone of
(03:49):
dead or unwell.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Birds, Jamie, the public of been outstanding, And actually that
was just Saturday.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
But since this outbreak.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Was first announced class week, we've had around six hundred
notifications where people have observed dead birds or sick birds
or something that they're concerned about.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I mean, the key thing here is we're interested in.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Where someone sees a few dead birds, you know in
proximity that it did. Of course, you're going to come
across a dead bird here and there. I came across
one on my backyard on the weekend. You know it
had flyn into a window. So no need to report that,
just dispose of it in the normal manner. But what
we are asking people to do is where they see
something unusual, particularly if it's out on the coastline, and
(04:34):
they and they spot birds that are that are seabirds,
that's that's a good early sign at the stage. Although
you know, we had a native hawk which you know,
they traveled to the coastline, but it.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Was found in a carston somewhere.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
And so if everyone's got their eyes open and keeps
the reporting up, we'll do our best to triage those
cases and get out pick them up and test them.
We need to.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Well, obviously this is a real threat to the egg
and the stream. Mainland poultry, which has gone into lockdown
supplies nearly forty percent of the country's eggs. What about
the chicken meat side of the equation, and then going
further on from that, this is a two hipart question.
Any risk of transmission to animals or humans. Let's start
(05:17):
with the chicken meat.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, no, of course, of course, for both chicken meat
and for egg producers.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
It's a serious issue.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And if the you know, really the way to keep
it out is to keep wild birds away from any
ability to contaminate or mix with, you know, with poultry.
So you don't want sort of birds getting in there
with the feces and water or anything like that, or
birds mixing, mixing any particular way, so that by security
measures on these poultry farms, be their eat producers or
(05:50):
chicken meat farms are really critical of course in the
in the chicken meat industry, the turnaround of birds, you know,
from their growth rate and then production and then into
supermarkets is a lot faster than through the egg production system.
So they're constantly rotating birds through of course, as you.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Would expect, and they have got very good protocols.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Around how to deal with these things if if they
do tune up, but of course the biggest thing is
to try and try and keep it out, I mean
in relation to other animals.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
As said that this is.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
New for us in New Zealand, but you know it's
been traveling around the world for five or six years
and the only outbreak that really has been reported in
cattles in the United States. And you and people listening
to you will know that their farming systems in the
United States for cattle are quite different than what we
have here in New Zealand, which are largely outside extensive
grazing systems, and so you know, the way in which
(06:44):
the cattle got contaminated is unlikely to occur here, and
in fact it hasn't been reported in any material way
in the UK or Island or places that we would see.
Is more similar to us in farming systems.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Keep our border safe, Keep up the good work at MPLI,
Riismuth Direct, the general things for your time, Thanks Jami,
It has been the big news story of the past
week here in New Zealand. Yes, the threat of bird flu. Now,
I note that New Zealand's largest egg supplier, Mainland Poultry,
is putting hundreds of thousands of free range chickens into
lockdown after the deadly bird flu virus was detected in
the country for the first time. We've had two cases.
(00:23):
To update the situation for us. The Director General of
mp I, Ray Smith Ray, did you have a busy
weekend keeping on the job here?
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, we'll get a Jamie look acually my team, they've
been flat out last week actually with us and and
of course you'll note from you know, the various things
that we've been at together at field days and various
other presentations over the last couple of years with the
farming community. I've been talking about this bird flu potentially
coming to New Zealand, and of course it was the
(00:53):
risk was heightened for us when we did have that
big outbreak and Maine that a different sort of bird flu,
but it gave us an insight. But it is here now,
and of course there's been about seventeen cases in Australia
over the last month and so we expected to see
birds landing here with it as well. Only two detected
at this point, but given one of them is a
native bird in the wire rapper, you would expect that
(01:16):
we will find more.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So this highly pathogenic H five in one strain. Is
it worse than the strain from two years ago.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Well, different in terms of the mortality on the birds,
it's about the same. The difference is that this one
is spread by the wild bird population that have been
traveling across the world, particularly these big pelagic seabirds that
live out in the ocean and then come on too
land periodically.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
So the difference here is this is spread by wildlife.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
The other one was more of a localized thing where
it was a low virus intensity that had come from
probably ducks or a swamp area in New Zealand that
had gotten into a poultry shed. And just remember poultry,
you know, don't have a long life in these production systems,
so they don't develop strong immunity, so the disease spreads
(02:09):
very quickly. So different, two different types of avian influenza.
This is the one we've always been worried about though,
because Jamie with the one that happened two years ago
mainland poultry, we could quarantine that facility, which is what
we did, and we worked with Mainland and we stamped
it out and that facility has been repopulated and it
didn't spread anywhere else in New Zealand. The difference here
(02:31):
is because this is in the wild bird population, it
will spread obviously with the wind, and so it's not
controllable in the sense of being able to quarantine or
stamp it out.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
So basically you got to keep the chocks on the cover.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Yeah. Well, look in the UK, where they'd had five
or six years of this, they they their experience and
we had people, industry people and MPI people go together
to the UK to look at their experience. It comes
in sort of waves and bits in the world that
you remember, we had these waves with COVID and we
still do a little bit now. It doesn't have much
prominence now.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
And what they do is they still have birds that
live outside.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
People still have free range operations, but periodically they have
to bring the birds inside and they house them as
these waves pass through. So we're right at the beginning
of this. So nobody quite knows how extensive the virus
is in New Zealand. Or how much spread there is
or quite where we are on that cycle.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well, i'll tell you what. You guys at MPI and
I do pat you on the back, have done a
pretty good job of keeping our borders safe. But the
heroes behind the scenes, the public of New Zealand, I
know they were on the ball with the was it
the yellow legged hornet, the last critter that was causing
us a bit of grief? Well, you've had something like
one hundred and fifty seven notifications on Saturday alone of
(03:49):
dead or unwell.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Birds, Jamie, the public of been outstanding, And actually that
was just Saturday.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
But since this outbreak.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Was first announced class week, we've had around six hundred
notifications where people have observed dead birds or sick birds
or something that they're concerned about.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I mean, the key thing here is we're interested in.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Where someone sees a few dead birds, you know in
proximity that it did. Of course, you're going to come
across a dead bird here and there. I came across
one on my backyard on the weekend. You know it
had flyn into a window. So no need to report that,
just dispose of it in the normal manner. But what
we are asking people to do is where they see
something unusual, particularly if it's out on the coastline, and
(04:34):
they and they spot birds that are that are seabirds,
that's that's a good early sign at the stage. Although
you know, we had a native hawk which you know,
they traveled to the coastline, but it.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Was found in a carston somewhere.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
And so if everyone's got their eyes open and keeps
the reporting up, we'll do our best to triage those
cases and get out pick them up and test them.
We need to.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Well, obviously this is a real threat to the egg
and the stream. Mainland poultry, which has gone into lockdown
supplies nearly forty percent of the country's eggs. What about
the chicken meat side of the equation, and then going
further on from that, this is a two hipart question.
Any risk of transmission to animals or humans. Let's start
(05:17):
with the chicken meat.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Yeah, no, of course, of course, for both chicken meat
and for egg producers.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
It's a serious issue.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
And if the you know, really the way to keep
it out is to keep wild birds away from any
ability to contaminate or mix with, you know, with poultry.
So you don't want sort of birds getting in there
with the feces and water or anything like that, or
birds mixing, mixing any particular way, so that by security
measures on these poultry farms, be their eat producers or
(05:50):
chicken meat farms are really critical of course in the
in the chicken meat industry, the turnaround of birds, you know,
from their growth rate and then production and then into
supermarkets is a lot faster than through the egg production system.
So they're constantly rotating birds through of course, as you.
Speaker 3 (06:08):
Would expect, and they have got very good protocols.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Around how to deal with these things if if they
do tune up, but of course the biggest thing is
to try and try and keep it out, I mean
in relation to other animals.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
As said that this is.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
New for us in New Zealand, but you know it's
been traveling around the world for five or six years
and the only outbreak that really has been reported in
cattles in the United States. And you and people listening
to you will know that their farming systems in the
United States for cattle are quite different than what we
have here in New Zealand, which are largely outside extensive
grazing systems, and so you know, the way in which
(06:44):
the cattle got contaminated is unlikely to occur here, and
in fact it hasn't been reported in any material way
in the UK or Island or places that we would see.
Is more similar to us in farming systems.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Keep our border safe, Keep up the good work at MPLI,
Riismuth Direct, the general things for your time, Thanks Jami,
Popular Podcasts
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com