Folks,
This little story is a property developer's dream! What are we
conserving wetlands for when they are havens for toxic pests carrying
"foreign" germs!!! I'm already hearing this from significant parties:
those involved in development approvals etc.
We need more information on this story immediately, so anyone with
knowledge on the subject might consider talking to some media outlets as
the picture we are getting seems terribly skewed (at the expense of
birds).
Some questions that might also be considered on this subject: poultry
farming practices in Australia? Is it true that feed for birds is
sourced internationally? Is it at all likely that feed importation
could represent another transmission vector? Is it true that "spent"
chooks are processed into food for the next generation, or is that just
something dreamed up by our animal lib activists?
What is the nature of the group of viruses involved in terms of
transmission. My vague sense - more research needed here - is that, in
terms of cross-species transmission, mutation mechanism notwithstanding,
people need to be in pretty close contact with infected birds - the
chances of punters getting close to migratory waders are very low I
would think.
So, does anyone know much about disease control measures in place when
it comes to the poultry industry in this country: I have questions about
where the feed comes from, how this is assessed etc, let alone the fact
that mass-scale poultry farms on the surface pose particular
transmission risks because of the obvious - loads of birds in one
relatively small space.
Craig Williams
>>> Chris Sanderson <> 07/07/05 11:07 AM >>>
Even if these birds were migratory waders that visit Australia, I fail
to see how they could make an 8000 km+ flight while sick with the flu?
It makes me feel ill to think of scientists advocating this kind of
thing in a highly popular journal without thinking of the consequences
of public opinion. Incidentally, AQIS takes blood samples of waders
up here to test for any signs of infection and to the best of my
knowledge have never found anything at all.
Regards,
Chris
Broome, WA
On 7/7/05, Andrew Taylor <> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 07, 2005 at 10:07:16AM +1000, John Leonard wrote:
> > I have heard from another source that the dead birds were
Bar-headed
> > Geese. But whether any of the other birds were species which
migrate
> > to Australia, or whether these were infected is not stated. Nor
is any
> > information about the different species different flight paths
given
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