Subscribe to Receive the Daily Report

Friday, May 22nd, 2015

Bird Flu Is Slamming Factory Farms But Sparing Backyard Flocks. Why?

Author:     Tom Philpott
Source:     Mother Jones
Publication Date:     Wed May 20, 2015 6:00 AM EDT
 Link: Bird Flu Is Slamming Factory Farms But Sparing Backyard Flocks. Why?
Stephan:   The die-off of commercially raised chickens hasn't received much attention, even though tens of millions of birds have died, so many that disposing of them has become a logistical nightmare.  But media silence does not mean lack of substance. This situation is telling us something very important about the inherent vulnerability of the industrial-pharmaceutical animal husbandry model. The most interesting part of this story to my mind is the fact that birds that are raised in a wellness as opposed to profit model are NOT succumbing. It took me a while to find a story that described this aspect, since the coverage of this entire event barely rates a yawn in corporate media, but this is a good account. We are being told something very important about our food system; it's a shame we aren't listening.

The Midwest’s ongoing avian flu crisis is wreaking havoc on the region’s large-scale egg and turkey farms. Last week alone, the US Department of Agriculture confirmed that the virus had turned up in more than 20 additional facilities in the region, condemning 4 million birds to euthanasia. Altogether, the H5N2 virus—”highly pathogenic” to birds, so far non-threatening to humans—has affected 168 sites and a jaw-dropping 36 million birds, (emphasis added) the great bulk of them in Iowa and surrounding states. It’s the largest avian flu outbreak in US history—and it has already wiped out 40 percent of the egg-laying flock h Iowa, the number-one egg-producing state in the US, according to The New York Times.

But it’s largely leaving backyard flocks unscathed. Why?

You’d expect backyard flocks to be widely affected too, but they don’t seem to be,” said one virologist.

According to Hon S. Ip, a virologist at the US Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Center, it’s a genuine mystery. Backyard flocks typically roam outdoors, in ready contact with wild birds, which are thought to be the origin of the virus. Their commercial counterparts live in tight confinement under strict “biosecurity” protocols: birds are shielded from contact with […]

Read the Full Article

1 Comment

  1. steve hovland on Friday, May 22, 2015 at 5:53 am

    The lesson will be repeated. Meanwhile, in California, we may be seeing the death of water-thirsty agriculture. One walnut exported to China uses 5 gallons of water, and a pound of beef uses 1800 gallons.