Two separate incidents of highly pathogenic avian flu have been confirmed in a commercial and a non-commercial poultry flock in Saskatchewan.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says one of the cases is in a small non-commercial flock near Carlyle in the southeast corner of the province.

The other is in a commercial flock in the RM of Loreburn on the east side of Lake Diefenbaker north of Elbow.

The CFIA is not saying what subtype of avian flue was confirmed. This is the first out-break of high-path avian flu in domestic poultry since 2007, when commercial birds on a farm near Regina Beach contracted an H7N3 subtype.

On a national basis, there have been 31 cases of avian flu in commercial Canadians poultry flocks. That includes 13 in southern Ontario, 11 in central and southern Alberta and one in B.C.’s Okanagon.

The avian flu virus is being carried by waterfowl returning to Canada from the United States.