Canada Bans Shipments of California Chickens

Canada ordered a 14-day ban on shipments of California poultry, and state officials expanded a poultry quarantine as a new case of a deadly avian virus was found in Ventura County.

The latest case involved a pet, not a commercial bird, but sparked new concern about the threat to California’s $3-billion poultry industry.

Egg and poultry farms in Riverside County, the state’s No. 1 egg producer, have been under quarantine, along with ranches in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange and San Diego counties. The disease is deadly to birds but harmless to humans.