When asked if avian flu could affect chickens here on the islands, Dr. Don Richardson of Richardson's Ranch replied, "it won't - and it hasn't."
"Our supply of chicks comes from Edmonton," he said, an area outside the Fraser Valley quarantine zone, "and our first shipment has already arrived successfully." He said that there are several hatcheries in the Fraser Valley region, but that their supply of chicks always comes from Edmonton.
Dr. Richardson said that it is not likely that avian flu will spread this far north, because the poultry in the affected area is being carefully contained. Travelers are being checked for eggs and poultry products on their way out of the Fraser Valley , at checkpoints in Hope, Lillooet, and at the ferry to Vancouver Island.