The ban that forced every fair in Ohio to shut down their poultry shows this year has been lifted. Statehouse correspondent Andy Chow reports.
Fear of the bird flu outbreak that hit states like Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota, forced Ohio to put a ban on bird exhibitions. The state has 50 million poultry birds which means a big industry for poultry shows and auctions.
Erica Hawkins with the Ohio Department of Agriculture said officials understood the ramifications to calling for that ban.
Hawkins: “It was a really difficult decision for us to make but I think it was a really important part from keeping this virus from taking hold in Ohio.”
There was never a confirmed case of bird flu in Ohio, the second largest egg producing state in the country.
Andy Chow at the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.