100,000 ducks to be killed after bird flu hits Long Island farm

Long Island duck is a delicacy enjoyed throughout the country for its mild flavor and tender meat. But its future was thrown into doubt after the island’s last duck farm was quarantined due to an outbreak of bird flu.

Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue, New York, now must cull its entire flock of nearly 100,000 ducks and could go out of business, its owner said in an interview. The highly contagious virus, H5NI avian influenza, was detected last week.

The Suffolk County Health Department said the farm was under quarantine and state and federal agricultural officials were on site to conduct “depopulation, cleaning and disinfection activities” at the farm. establishment, which supplies ducks to many restaurants in New York and beyond. Similar outbreaks have led to the culling of herds in more than a dozen states.

Doug Corwin, part of the fourth generation of his family to operate Crescent Duck Farm, which has been open since 1908, said Thursday the future of his business is uncertain.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life and we’re last in this industry,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking. You work your whole life for something, and then one day it all disappears.

Health officials said the risk to humans remains low. “At this point, the virus is not transmissible between humans,” Dr. Gregson Pigott, Suffolk County Health Commissioner, said in a statement.