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Hi Coleman:
Many thanks for this.
V interesting.
I notice that Joseph Domenech, Chief Bird Blamer of FAO, isn’t quoted.
[Juan Lubroth always quieter re wild birds’ role; last year, I was cc’d an email from him, saying that they didn’nt know how Qinghai Lake birds got H5N1. May be interested in bar-headed goose farming.]I was invited to the conference; sadly, lack funds to go.
Oh how I’d love to talk with Domenech; inc to ask him about integrated farming and H5N1.Martin
Post edited by: martin, at: 2006/05/25 01:32
Thanks for the link, tho now need subscription to view. Now, this interview – even Int Organisation for Animal Health, which with FAO has been big blamer of wild birds, saying trade looking a more important vector than migrating birds. (Article says conservationists agree wild birds playing a role: all agree wild birds – inc swans – have flown some distances in Europe before dying, but whether they actually spread it to others is not certain.)
Quote:PARIS, May 22 (Reuters) – The failure of the H5N1 virus to take hold in wild birds in Africa points to trade not migration as the major factor in spreading the disease on the continent, a top veterinary official said on Monday. Ever since the deadly Asian H5N1 strain of bird flu was found in Nigeria, experts believed wintering birds could carry the virus back to Europe when they returned in the spring. Yet that migration period is now all but over and there have been no cases in Europe directly linked to birds from Africa, where the H5N1 virus has been confined to poultry farms.Bonaventure Mtei, the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) representative for southern Africa, said there have been few signs of migratory birds carrying the virus in the continent. "So we think trade is the most critical factor in the interaction of the disease in Africa," he told Reuters during the OIE general assembly in Paris. The findings contrast sharply with the situation earlier this year in Europe, where wild birds migrating from near the Black Sea carried H5N1 as far as France. Infected birds, mostly swans, flew westwards. Hundreds of cases turned up in Europe and some farms were infected. The end of the African migration season has prompted many governments in Europe, including France, to relax curbs on keeping poultry outside. The bans are likely to be re-instated in the autumn when birds from eastern Russia cross Europe again on their way to African wintering grounds.
MIGRATION PLAYS A ROLE
The migration versus trade theories have been the subject of much speculation. Conservationists have always said that some disease "hotspots" do not correspond to known migratory routes. They admit that migration has played a role in spreading the virus in Europe, but doubt that infected birds could physically fly the distances needed to carry it between Africa and Europe. They also point to the fact that favourite wintering areas in Africa such as Kenya’s Rift Valley have seen no H5N1 cases. "A lot of work has been done to try and sample the wild birds (in Africa)," Mtei said. "To our knowledge so far there is no indication that the virus has been recovered from either migratory or wild birds in Africa," he added. [try telling that to the ridiculous Debora MacKenzie of New Scientist! – but what are facts when you have a good story?]
This leaves trade, either illegal or legal, in poultry as the main risk. He said that while most commercial poultry farms had set up good biosecurity measures, the many small-scale backyard farms had practically none at all. Porous borders and a flourishing informal chicken trade have been seen as key reasons for the spread of the virus across Nigeria and to neighbouring countries. Yet Mtei said it was still too early to rule out any transmission by migratory birds, particularly as the numbers of birds flying the vast distances were huge. [silly fools! – why not look at East Asia??] Experts believe that billions of birds fly from the northern hemisphere to winter in Africa every year. "The migratory theory has not yet been proved false," he said. "We are dealing with large bird populations and we may not have captured sufficient samples." [OIE clinging on, unwilling to admit major mistakes based on tiny evidence and massive supposition]
INTERVIEW-Bird flu in Africa more from trade than migration
Hi Coleman:
Some of info – but here, showing H5N1 surviging better in warm water than regular, wild bird flu – mentioned in:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/emerging/h5n1background.pdfSeems, then, warm water playing some role with H5N1: might be domestic duck water (inc in rice paddies?), but can wonder too re fish farms.
Martin
Quote:By TODD ACKERMAN For months, the warnings have been relentless: Bird flu could jump species and kill tens of millions of people, a pandemic to rival the 1918 Spanish flu. Economies would collapse and governments risk catastrophe if they don’t put together elaborate contingency plans. Not everyone is convinced, however. A small group of skeptics says the warnings are just a lot of hype, scare talk that does more harm than good to the public health.Such doomsday predictions go well beyond good science and siphon money and attention from more important threats, they say. "It’s a great story, a disease that can wipe out mankind as we know it," says Dr. Gary Butcher, a University of Florida veterinarian specializing in avian diseases. "Fortunately, the facts are contrary to what’s being reported. This disease is going to fizzle out, be forgotten in the near future and be replaced by another ‘potential worldwide threat.’ "
That view may have received a boost last week when the United Nations’ chief pandemic flu coordinator confirmed that the flu virus known as H5N1 largely has been contained in the Asian countries where it first hit. … Contrarians such as Butcher say it’s all a bit much, considering that some experts doubt the current lethal form of the virus will ever jump to humans . They also note that the three pandemics of the last century claimed successively fewer lives. The last, in 1968, killed 34,000 people, fewer than the number who succumb each year to seasonal flu. Bird flu, they argue, is just the latest in a line of overhyped scares that include anthrax, West Nile virus, smallpox and SARS, which taken together claim a mere fraction of the lives lost every year to, say, pneumonia.
The skeptics warn of the dangers of overreaction, citing 1976’s swine flu debacle, when more than 40 million people received a vaccine against a new pig virus that, ultimately, never took hold. The virus killed one person, a military recruit whose speedy death ignited the crash program. But as many as 1,000 people who were inoculated developed a paralyzing nerve condition; 32 died. The public relations nightmare and lawsuits against the government helped drive many drug companies away from making flu vaccines at all. …
But Paul Ewald, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Louisville, said such pathogens would lose their virulence, a law of natural selection ignored by those who fear the worst-case scenarios. "Everything we know about evolution says pathogens have to become more mild to keep their host mobile," Ewald said. "If they’re so virulent the host can’t pass them on, they don’t survive." The exception, he said, occurs in "disease factories" — environments where people immobilized by illness can easily transmit a virulent pathogen to new hosts — which is what happened on World War I’s Western Front with the Spanish flu. Hospitals, trains and trenches packed with deathly ill and healthy soldiers facilitated the disease’s lethal spread. …
Some critics see a different "agenda" behind the public concern about bird flu — funding. Butcher says President Bush’s $7.1 billion flu pandemic plan means a bonanza of grant money for researchers and the justification of the budgets and existence of agencies such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization. …
"I’m concerned that the public discussion about bird flu, the new bug du jour, is so weighted with end-of-the-world terms that it’s causing a kind of hysteria," said Siegel, author of Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic. "The greatest problem isn’t influenza — it’s fear of influenza."
As the dire predictions of a pandemic mount, skeptics warn of the dangers of overreaction Some don’t buy bird flu threat
from Tibet info site (presumably taken in Tibet), http://www.tibetinfor.com.cn/news/2003-12-28/N0320031228112940.htm
from Promed, 22 May:
Date: Thu 18 May 2006
From: Simon ShaneI agree with your comments re. avian influenza (AI) in ProMED post
20060518.1396. It is common practice in Southeast Asia (Thailand 2004) to
dump chicken and duck intestinal tracts from processing plants into
commercial fish ponds. This practice continued even after the disease was
diagnosed in Thailand when I visited operations there. It is presumed that
in China, where nothing is wasted, similar activities contribute to
dissemination of AI virus in lakes and waterways (see Dave Stallknecht’s
work in Cameron Parish).—
Simon M. Shane FRCVS, PhD. MBL. dip ACPV
Emeritus Professor
205 Landreth Court
Durham NC 27713
USA[Simon and I were once fellow faculty members in the old LSU Epidemiology
and Community Health Department. He has extensive consultancy outreach in
Africa and Asia. Apropos virus-contaminated water, there is an interesting
WHO Review: “Review of latest available evidence on risks to human health
through potential transmission of avian influenza (H5N1) through water and
sewage,” available through the WHO report
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/emerging/h5n1background.pdf
on the possibility of spread to humans through exposure to contaminated
water. It is well worth reading. Though it is equivocal on the risks, it
lays out the data very well for the reader to make his or her own
conclusions. It also raises the specter of risks from human sewage and the
need for improved safety procedures for sewage workers. – Mod.MHJ]
[the paper doesn’t include fish farming; mainly notions re H5N1 from waterfowl – not surprising given Robert Webster a key author]– following this, I’ve emailed Promed, inc re fish farm in Java, w catfish fed dead chickens
Post edited by: martin, at: 2006/05/23 00:47
Post edited by: martin, at: 2006/05/24 01:50
Debora MacKenzie wrote of conspiracy notions by conservationists. Interesting, then, that New Sci publisher Reed Business Information has several farming titles, including Poultry World (this only over 4000 subscribers; but Farmers Weekly looks bigger):
No reason, then, for DM to be other than balanced in assessing likelihood of wild birds or poultry as vectors … is there?
Not smuggling – no international borders involved – but another news item that further indicates people in areas with poultry affected by H5N1 at least sometimes sell birds on.
V v brief news item (here in full):
Quote:The manager of a large industrial poultry farm in Romania was arrested Saturday night on charges of allowing the farm to sell poultry possibly infected with the bird flu virus.After news from Romania suggesting itinerant sellers involved in spread of H5N1, this note from Richard Thomas of Birdlife International: "The buyers could be the main source of spreading the disease. We saw that they went from one farm that had suspected avian flu to another farm and within three days it broke out there," says Centre Director Dr Isep Sulaiman. "Then, the buyer sold the infected live chickens at market, people took them home and didn’t kill them immediately and it spread even further." Taken from the FAO’s: Enemy at the gate: saving farms and people from bird flu (April 2005)
A more upbeat email from rainforest portal: Indonesian Rainforest Victory as Large Orangutan Habitat Safe for Now from Oil Palm Ecological Internet’s Earth Action Network Spearheads Major Victory for Rainforest Movement
May 15, 2006 By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet, Inc.,
Under intense international pressure the Indonesian government has virtually abandoned plans to convert large areas of ancient rainforests, prime habitat for the endangered Orangutan, into a massive oil palm plantation. The original plan called for 1.8 million hectares (nearly 7,000 square miles or 18,000 square kilometers) of mainly native forests to be converted into a mega oil palm plantation along over 850 kilometers of the Indonesia- Malaysia border. In an abrupt about-face, the Agriculture Minister (formerly the project’s chief advocate) last week announced only 180,000 hectares are now deemed suitable for oil palm development.
Given long-standing objections by the Forestry and Environment ministries, the larger project is effectively dead for now. International protest in support of local rainforest peoples and conservationists is responsible for reducing the project’s expanse by 90%. "Destruction of ancient rainforests and other habitat worldwide is now an international as well as local issue, as the Internet has globalized movements for rainforest conservation and global ecological sustainability," notes Dr. Glen Barry, President of Ecological Internet. "Those that participated in the campaign must celebrate; because of their action, millions of year old ancient rainforest treasures have been given a reprieve." While many groups are active in orangutan conservation and protection of the "Heart of Borneo", Ecological Internet was the first to launch a major Internet campaign on the matter. In Ecological Internet’s largest email protest ever, their network bombarded the Indonesian government with several hundred thousand protest emails. Ecological Internet’s international network grew by over 20% as the campaign surged across the Internet. Several other organizations carried out letter writing campaigns based upon their campaign strategies and information.
"Indonesia’s rainforests remain critically endangered, and their continued widespread loss threatens regional ecosystem sustainability and development potential. But for the time being, a huge swathe of very special and important ancient rainforests will remain intact. Our next immediate priority is to continue protesting China’s plans to log other Indonesian rainforests for Olympic construction."
The announcement does not mean vital orangutan habitat has achieved meaningful permanent protection. Ecological Internet’s network will continue to protest any oil palm development there and anywhere in primary rainforests, remain vigilante against a resurrection of the project as originally conceived, and monitor logging concessions and illegal logging in the area. And Indonesia’s informal commitment to fully protect the "Heart of Borneo" with Malaysia and Brunei will continue to be supported. Dr. Barry notes "this successful international protest shows what is possible when grassroots organizations seek an end to ancient forest destruction, rather than the big groups negotiating acceptable logging volumes. The age of industrial development of ancient forests is over – even governments and loggers are getting the message."
There’s even a mention of this website in the news item; though not quite correct – the info was first from a Japanese researcher, posting to a newsgroup re poultry flu and conservation. I pasted some posts into this thread; Richard Thomas of Birdlife International – who started the newsgroup – sent more messages to the group, which I added as well.
Still, good to see this story; and check out the quote from Juan Lubroth of FAO!Quote:Chinese admit breeding wild birds near Qinghai Lake.The hypothesis that migratory birds are responsible for spreading
avian flu over long distances has taken another knock. Last year, an
outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain in thousands of migratory birds at
Qinghai Lake in western China provided what seemed the first firm
evidence for the idea. Because the lake is so remote, experts assumed
infected birds had flown up from southern China.But it has now emerged that, since 2003, one of the key migratory
species affected, the bar-headed goose, has been artificially reared
near the lake. The breeding farms — part of an experimental
programme to both domesticate the birds and release them to
repopulate wild stocks — raise the possibility that farmed birds
were the source of the outbreak.Roy Wadia, a World Health Organization (WHO) spokesman in Beijing,
agrees that, if confirmed, the finding is “important”, as changing
the breeding practice might help control the infection.Yi Guan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong, co-authored a
Nature paper last July that suggested migrating birds caused the
outbreak (see Nature 436, 191?192; 2005). Guan says he had heard
rumours of the programme when he submitted his paper, but couldn’t
confirm them.There is no proof that China’s breeding programme caused the Qinghai
outbreak, but it does raise questions, he says. “The cultivation of
bar-headed geese increases the chance for these birds to mix with
infected domestic poultry.”Ironically, the breeding programme was revealed by Chinese press
agencies reporting on the government’s efforts to boost agriculture
and the environment in the region ahead of the opening of the
Qinghai-Tibet railway in July; the railway is expected to promote
tourism and economic growth.Richard Thomas of BirdLife International in Cambridge, UK, spotted
the press cuttings, and posted English translations to a blog
(https://www.drmartinwilliams.com). Whether farmed migrant birds
caused the outbreak or not, it’s a “cautionary tale”, says Ken
Shortridge, a veteran avian-flu researcher in China. He argues that
such a programme does not sufficiently take into account the threat
of H5N1.The idea that migrating birds didn’t carry the virus to Qinghai after
all would fit with other recent evidence. Juan Lubroth, a senior
animal-health officer at the UN Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO), says he is now sceptical that migrants can carry the virus
over long distances. For example, the current spring migration from
Africa to Europe is almost over, with no sign of outbreaks. The FAO
has also checked 20,000 wild birds in Africa and found no H5N1.Blogger reveals China’s migratory goose farms near site of flu outbreak
Almost a year after the outbreak of bird flu among the wild birds
near Qinghai Lake (Tso Ngonpo) that killed tens of thousands of wild
birds and Qinghai came to be associated with a deadly H5N1 strain of
bird flu, new cases of flu among wild birds have been reported since
late April near Qinghai Lake and in Yushu county, a remote nomadic
region several hundred kilometers to the south of Qinghai Lake. The
outbreak in wild birds continues to fuel fears that migratory birds
as carriers of the deadly avian flu could lead to global pandemic.
China’s secrecy and the stonewalling of requests for information on
the flu outbreak continue to fuel speculation about the role of
migratory birds in the spread of flu.Over the past year, the spread of the flu has not been correlated
with the migratory routes and seasons of wild birds. Indeed, some
global studies have found that migratory birds are not the cause of
the current wave of bird flu outbreaks stalking large parts of the
world. Rather, outbreaks have been concentrated in the factory farms
of China, South East Asia and elsewhere in the world. In India, the
epicenter of outbreak of bird flu took place in 18 poultry farms in
and around Navapur in Maharashtra. Since the Qinghai Lake outbreak
last year, outbreaks in other parts of world have occurred along
major transport routes. However increasing evidence suggests that
commercial poultry and its products, not migratory bird populations,
are the likely vectors of avian flu.Fish farms and wild bird flu on Qinghai Lake At present, a new theory
is gaining ground that the outbreak in wild birds near Qinghai Lake
may be linked to fish farms around the lake. As early as 1998,
scientists cautioned that human health hazards like an influenza
pandemic could arise from the practice of bringing together fish
farms with farm livestock. Some researchers say that bird flu may be
spread by using chicken dung as feed in fish farms, a practice now
routine in Asia.According to Le Hoang Sang, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City’s
Pasteur Institute, “Chicken excrement is one of the main carriers of
the H5N1 virus, which can survive in a cool and wet environment for a
month and slightly less if in water.” In January, a 9-year-old boy
died from bird flu in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh after he
caught it while swimming in water in which the bodies of infected
poultry had been thrown. BirdLife International, a global body for
bird protection groups in more than 100 countries, is calling for an
investigation into the possibility that the fish in these ponds,
which are fed with chicken dung, may be the means by which the new
strain of avian influenza, H5N1, is being spread. It says that
outbreaks of H5N1 have occurred this year at locations in China,
Romania and Croatia where there are fish farms.The above theory, if proven right, puts a serious question mark over
this practice, which has been promoted actively by the UN’s Food and
Agriculture Organisation (FAO). FAO have been active in the
development of commercial aquaculture, particularly in Qinghai Lake,
and is said to have helped establish an integrated livestock-fish
farm near the lake in the early 1990s. Qinghai Lake is the largest
inland lake on the Tibetan Plateau and its Bird Island attracts
thousands of seasonal bird populations including cormorants, gulls
and other species that feed upon the fingerlings and naked carp, a
species endemic to the Lake and commercially fished.Commercial fishing was first carried out in 1958, and since the late
1980s the agricultural potential of the Qinghai Lake area was being
recognized and development encouraged, resulting in a rapidly growing
livestock industry. Due to abundance and good quality of water near
Qinghai Lake, attempts at introduction of exotic fish species are
being made. Fish farming was encouraged, both in the lake and in
surrounding reservoirs, supported by local fish feed manufacturing
facilities. Only an independent investigation into the cause of flu
among wild birds will tell whether the increased development of
fisheries in and around the Qinghai Lake has caused massive deaths in
the wild birds of Qinghai Lake.*Namgyal has an MA in Sustainable International Development from the
Brandeis University and has been researching and writing on Tibetan
environmental issues for the past five years.
[url=http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?article=Qinghai+Bird+flu+caused+by+fish+
farms%3F&id=12635]Qinghai Bird flu caused by fish farms?[/url]Quote:Chinese chicken is being illegally smuggled into Europe, increasing the risk of a human bird flu pandemic.European Union customs authorities have been put on alert after the deception was detected last year. Since January last year 21 consignments of Chinese frozen uncooked poultry have been intercepted. Such meat is banned in the EU because of the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain and other diseases rife in China.
“The risks in relation to avian flu are an example of the necessity for strong measures to ensure that imports comply fully with sanitary and veterinary requirements,” said Markos Kyprianou, the European health commissioner. “The commission is alert to all potential sources, including illegal imports.”
“This is fraud,” said Jorg Wohajn, a spokesman for Olaf, the EU’s anti-fraud arm, which is co-ordinating efforts to crack down on the trade. “But there is also an animal and human safety aspect.”
There are two variants of the trade. One involves using fake papers claiming that the meat comes from another country, typically Brazil. The other involves putting boxes of poultry in consignments of legal vegetables. Scanning a container by X-ray reveals the problem but the fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated. Slovenian authorities seized packets of poultry last year that had been hidden beneath same-sized packets of broccoli and garlic. They could be found only by manual search.
The Chinese authorities have denied giving approval to the shipments and pledged to crack down on them. There are no figures available on the extent of the trade. The EU imported 557,000 tonnes of poultry last year, mainly from Brazil and Thailand.
…
Several European member states have declared that the threat of bird flu has receded. Cases have fallen from 100 a week in February to about five a week. However, that reflects the fact that migratory birds are nesting: when they move again later in the year the risk will grow [nonsense].Washington also gave warning this month that illegally imported pets could bring bird flu to the US. In 2004 two crested hawk eagles carrying the virulent strain of the H5N1 bird flu virus were seized from a Thai passenger at Brussels airport.
again from Richard Thomas:
"Bantouyan off off period for technology"
This article stresses the probs of domesticating Bar-headed Geese. Although rearing BHG is simple and profits are high, they breed slowly, have a short laying period, so extending laying period and cutting costs in non-laying period is key to increasing profits. Here are some ways of rearing them in non-laying period:
1. Moving them to dry land – Although raising them on water can cut cleaning work, it increases dirt, smell, has serious effect on their health. So land should be drained in July when they stop laying, pond should be cleaned and disinfected so can be used for fish breeding and growing lotus as food for BHG. They should be moved into dry sheds (and clip wings) to bring forward laying season by one month to next January and put breeding birds back on water.
2. Stimulate laying by artificial light in evening in December, but artificial light should be stopped after non-laying period to stop them from not laying or decreasing laying in spring. To stop them putting on excess weight in non-laying season feed should be changed mainly to green food which will cut costs.
3. Only lay between March and June, so all but best layers should be sold. After last chicks hatch late April, the best should be kept as breeding birds and kept for 9-10 months. From hatching to laying consume only half as much green feed as laying hens, which saves on feeding costs.
4. Although (naturally) disease resistant they quickly cause serious pollution which reduces their freedom from disease, also catch infections from domestic poultry, causing their disease rate to rise sharply, so must vaccinate outside laying season (gives details). Must also keep coops clean and disinfect them. Birds kept on ponds, water should be changed in summer and their faeces cleaned out, pond thoroughly disinfected.
Yamal – north Siberia (region never affected)
http://www.regnum.ru/news/639820.html
“The special-brigades on the shooting of the migratory birds are created on Yamal”On 25 May on Yamal special brigades will begin to frighten away and
to fire back migratory birds. The specialists entered into the
composition of brigades Rossel’khoznadzora, MCHS [EMERGENCY AND
DISASTER RELIEF MINISTRY], veterinary service, militiamen hunters. As
noted the deputy chief of the self-contained division for the
administration Of rossel’khoznadzora for Tyumen’ Oblast, Yugry also
of Yamal Andrey Shcherits, the first measure for the preventive
maintenance of bird influenza is planned for the period from 25 May
through 5 June, then brigade leaves in Priural’e.Specialists do not exclude, that some hunters, in spite of the rules,
will leave to okhotugod’ya for the traditional trade. In that case
the disturbers will be made to answer. Minimum punishment – these are
penalty from 500 rubles, maximum – deprivation of permission for
conducting of hunting.The large requirements of authority present also to participants in
the brigades on frightening off and shooting of the migratory birds:
if we professional fisherman, called protect the trusted to it
territory from the penetration to it of the potential carriers of
dangerous infection, they will find after the hunting, and not by
shooting, it immediately will be derived from the composition of
brigade and also they will summon.The madness continues:
http://www.regnum.ru/news/639920.html
“1 929 crows are killed in the Chelyabinsk province for purposes of the preventive maintenance of the bird influenza”Action on the shooting of animals and birds in the dangerous regions
continues, they reported IA REGNUM in the press- service of control
Rossel’khoznadzora on the Chelyabinsk province.From 10 April through 15 May in the territory of the South Urals
acted more than 40 special brigades on the shooting of gray crows,
deserted cats and dogs. It was begun to operate in the different time
from 126 to 259 people, who have the permission of okhotnadzora to
the shootings.In the time of action were killed 1 929 gray crows, 252 deserted dogs
even 24 deserted cats. The corpses of the destroyed birds and animals
were utilized in the established by veterinarians order.During the conducted operation bird influenza in the territory of the
Chelyabinsk province registered was not.From Richard Thomas of Birdlife International:
Another batch of Bar-headed Geese farming summaries.
It’s very interesting that the artificial breeding programme at Qinghai
Lake has partly changed the species’s migratory habits – it means the
practice must have been taking place for some time; I wonder how it’s
changed their habits precisely. It’d be interesting to know what the
birds are fed on as well: animal feed from the Lanzhou factory
perhaps?!?8 http://www.chinabreed.com/special/205/2006/02/2006022342677.shtml
“Ngan and management of domesticate”This is a relatively detailed analysis of benefits of BHG
meat/eggs/breeding methods, here is just an outline – Meat protein
content 20.98% which higher than chicken/beef/pork, eggs can be cooked
in various ways, feathers can be used for shuttlecocks, down for
clothing, meat for medicine, can treat cancer (!!!). Behaviour
migratory (doesn’t say if this a problem in domesticating them), pair
for life, docile, vegetarian, disease resistant, lay 7-25 eggs, take 31
days to hatch, m/f hatch in equal numbers when artificially reared, lay
after 10 days, one every 2/3 days, lay about 15 in first year, increases
up to 25 in years 2-6. Artificial incubator best, 38-38.5C, gives
details, also of coop (other article said can be bred outside), food.
Best sold at over 60 days old…9 http://www.nj.qhei.gov.cn/gyly/ysdw-02.shtml
“Bantouyan”An artificial hatching centre and semi-underground viewing room has been
built at Qinghai lake, artificial rearing has partly changed their
migratory behaviour.10
http://xzb.sh.gov.cn/node2/node4/node181/node209/node214/userobject1ai22
934.html
“Tibetan Nagqu artificial domesticated wild Bantouyan success”Following the success in Shannan (southern mountains, ie Yamzho Yumco
Lake, abt 100 km S of Lhasa) there is now good news from Xainza county,
Nagqu prefecture (about 300 km NE of Lhasa), 500 BHGs have been bred
successfully, have met market demand. They are being exploited
reasonably, protecting a natural resource, great step forward for
adjustments in husbandry.Not Nigeria, but relevant
Wrong vaccine spread virus includes:Quote:The prevalence of the virus in rural areas has surprised many.
According to a report prepared by the ministries of agriculture and
health, in conjunction with the parliamentary Agriculture Committee,
it suggests that domestic poultry, and not wild birds, account for
the spread of the highly pathogenic virus. There is no scientific
proof that migrating wild birds brought the deadly virus to the
country, says the report. If that were the case, then coastal cities
would have been the first to be infected. So far, though, they remain
free of infection while the majority of human and poultry H5N1 cases
have been detected in rural areas.info from US based researcher and analyst:
In Thaliand, link shown between free-grazing domestic ducks and H5N1 distribution (more where free-grazing ducks present; however, with control measures, appeared H5N1 died out in duck flocks too).
http://www.cdc.gov/Ncidod/EID/vol12no02/05-0640.htmInteresting, then, that China is using troops of ducks to devour locusts on grasslands in northwest [Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia].
Duck patrol advances on China’s locustssome human translations of selected info:
1 "Lhasa City made to seize the opportunity to develop its railway industry" 2006-04-25 To boost animal husbandry with arrival of Tibet railway, BHG breeding base (for poultry/eggs) established in Gongka [Meldrogonkar] county which has wetlands and reservoir also suitable for aquaculture.
2 "200 only Bantouyan return to nature" Yesterday (Aug 29, 2005) 200 BHGs were released at Lhalu wetlands http://tinyurl.com/ogoo2, move aimed at increasing awareness of importance of nature and natural harmony and increasing spp at Lhalu and sustainable development. The birds were reared in Lhasa, given free by company to mark opening of Lhalu national reserve.
3 "China’s first successful artificial breeding of wild Bantouyan" China artificially rears BHGs for first time, 300 in southern mountains. Head of local livestock bureau Wang Huaiting said herders gathered over 300 abandoned eggs near Yamzho Yumco Lake (one of three sacred lakes)
success rate was 99% and 100% reached maturity. They now weigh over 2kg. Numbers have dropped in wild because of environmental degradation, only remaining site is Yamzho Yumco where there are 30,000 birds. Wang said after they have bred on large scale some will be released in wild, this year (2003) local authority plans to build a three mln yuan (£200,000) (this is not 300 mln yuan!) wild BHG breeding centre based entirely on habitat of wild birds. (Implies that birds will also be bred for meat/eggs).
Also among reports inc bar-headed goose farming/artificial rearing.
Again, notice chicken farming too – here major increase, so presumably demand for chickens from other places.http://www.qh.xinhuanet.com/qztlw/2006-04/25/content_6840932.htm
“Lhasa City made to seize the opportunity to develop its railway industry”This year, the city of Lhasa City on the economy of the farming and
animal husbandry zone focus, seize the historical opportunity to open
the Qinghai-Tibet railway, will further optimize the industrial
structure, vigorously develop animal husbandry zone industries.
…
Vigorously develop animal husbandry in rural areas and peri-urban
farming. Further accelerate dairy cow breeding base building, and
consolidate their existing dairy cow breeding bases, completed more
than 2,000 head of quality dairy cow imported. Completing the “double
hundred” breeding base-building, namely : the 6,672 jobs cards, Lin
Zhou 1 million only two counties Tibet Lhasa white chicken and
chicken-scale breeding bases and 100 million chickens base. Long
himself in sand, Dazi, Qushui, Chengguan District, pig breeding base
building, completed 100,000 sheep units short fattening cattle.
Develop aquaculture and other aquaculture industry in Qushuixian
building layer breeding base in a 6,672-card counties Bantouyan [=bar-headed goose]
breeding base, the use of local reservoirs, wetlands development of
fisheries and breeding. In Lhasa, the development of bee-keeping
demonstration households Qushuixian 50 households.Quote:By Maggie Fox, Health and Science CorrespondentWASHINGTON (Reuters) – A film about a fictional bird flu pandemic that will air on television on Tuesday has experts worried it will panic some people and convince others that legitimate warnings are mere hype.
…
“Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America” features scenes with actors wearing spacesuit-like protective gear, a terrified populace and an ending scene in which most residents of an African village lie dead.and now, the curious thing; Osterholm – a major fearmonger, recently telling Oprah of all that will ensue, inc many millions of deaths, economic woes – finds himself trumped in the scary predictions dept:
Quote:“I am not happy,” said Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota public health expert who has been warning about and consulting on the threat of an influenza pandemic.“I worry that this could very well be portrayed by many as ultimate example of sensationalism,” Osterholm told reporters in a telephone briefing on Monday.
More fearmongering from US – even as Americas yet to record a single case of H5N1, even in a chicken.
Quote:Police will be guarding hospitals, and shipments of medicine, food and fuel if the deadly avian flu pandemic sweeps the province, experts planning for a possible outbreak are saying. Dr. Michael Mills and OPP Sgt. Andy Taylor painted a frightening picture of the pandemic’s potential effects for delegates at a police services board conference on the weekend. They warned of civil disorder, and the likely suspension of school, entertainment and sporting events if the illness were to strike here.To cope with the coming global threat, Taylor told the Burlington conference that people need to stock up on supplies such as food, water, medicine and batteries so families can be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours, keep washing their hands and stay at least a metre away from others to avoid contact with infected water droplets from coughing and sneezing. Mills suggested people should also buy life ins for their survivors before premiums are jacked up and get a seasonal flu shot to avoid being sick when or if the bird flu hits during the annual influenza season. "The intent is not to scare people but it is the reality," said Taylor, a key member of the OPP’s pandemic planning team. It is preparing for how police would deal with civil unrest as a result of food and fuel shortages and protect hospitals from a surge of sick people demanding treatment.
Although medical experts have no idea when the avian strain might reach Canada, latest Ontario estimates suggest 7,000 to 20,000 people will die, Taylor said. As well, 4 million people in Ontario will become ill, about 2.3 million will need medical treatment and 18,000 to 65,000 will be hospitalized. Many will die, Mills said, within 24 to 48 hours from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome as the virus causes lungs of seriously infected victims to fill with blood and fluid. Other critically ill could last for more than a week before dying of secondary infections. The province has a "death surge plan" to deal with bird flu casualties, Taylor said. With a pandemic expected to disrupt transportation of food and borders likely to be closed to shipments, it won’t take long for grocery store shelves to become bare. "If trucks aren’t flowing, there will be nothing on the shelves and food shortages could create civil disorder," Taylor said.
Mills said "panic and chaos" inevitably would lead to criminal activity. With police expecting a 20 to 40 per cent manpower shortage from sickness and absenteeism, minor property crimes likely would be ignored and R.I.D.E. and seat belt campaigns halted. "We are expecting a significant number of requests for security for both shipments of vaccines and shipment of viral medicine as well as protecting vaccine distribution and food and fuel," Taylor said. Human-to-human infection from the deadly virus known as H5N1 has yet to occur although as of this week, 113 of 205 people infected in 13 countries have died from contacting the illness from virus-carrying poultry and wild birds. [try reading that again: 113 human deaths, worldwide; that’s in nigh-on ten years. None from a wild bird]
Mills, who heads the pandemic planning for Burlington’s Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital, said once the virus mutates to where humans begin infecting humans, widespread transmission "will be unstoppable" with many people unknowingly infecting each other. "People will pass this on before they even know they’re infected because the onset of symptoms don’t appear until a day after you’re infected," Mills said. "This is not a tsunami. This won’t be over in five hours. It’s going to be around for a long time." Mills said the virus wouldn’t be contained easily, indicating an infected person, showing no signs, could easily infect others in an airplane. Passengers would then transmit the illness to others on the ground when they land. Unlike the Spanish Flu of 1918, which circled the globe in five months, killing 40 million to 100 million, this avian strain will spread much faster, Mills said.
Brace for bird flu, urge experts Local pandemic scary spectre Food shortage, chaos predicted
Notice here – last para – re pollution etc.
Could indeed be problems here, leading to troubles once H5N1 to area by poultry trade (legal and/or smuggling). Esp as seems poultry farming at same places.http://academy2003.cpst.net.cn/popul/farms/gradn/artic/50119122108.html
“Bantouyan off off period for technology”Bantouyan While keeping simple, breeding profit higher, but the low
rate of reproduction, laying a short, and therefore how to extend the
period allowed in the non-laying season is how to reduce the cost of
access to key high profits. Next will Bantouyan off perinatal farming
methods introduced to the reader.1. To the water for drought support Although the surface can be
reduced by breeding Bantouyan cleaning workload, but would lead to
water pollution, summer water bodies become dark autumn release bad
odor, severely affecting Bantouyan health. Thus, at its July platoon
dry off postnatal water, cleansing and disinfection of the pond, then
the appropriate fish, the water lettuce, etc. for Bantouyan
consumption. At this time, more shade Bantouyan transferred to
dryland farming can Yashe (cut to the side wings), and 2 January 2000
of the wild geese and chickens before one month, then of the wild
geese and into the water.2. Stop illumination, expected to visit Green Bantouyan generally
begin in December at additional illumination to stimulate their
chickens, but that should stop illumination on the post-natal,
maternity or not allowed to prevent its spring. In addition, during
the off-off, to prevent Bantouyan obesity may be feeding material on
the Green, to save feed costs. Conditional arrangements should be
planted in the fall and pasture.3. For each species, feed savings Use Bantouyan 3-6 month allowed
only in the annual, and other types of characteristics for the month,
when the last batch of eggs End of the wild geese and off, leaving
part of the high-yield, quality of the wild geese and, when all
commodities should Ngan sale. When the end of April last Xiaoyan
incubation loss, the selection of good Xiaoyan When growth of the
wild geese and retained for 9-10 months to 2 years just after the
spring, when these Bantouyan have sexual maturity and begin laying.
Xiaoyan from loss due to the hens used all succulence of the wild
geese and chickens used as fodder half, and therefore significantly
save feed.4. Good health, vaccination Bantouyan although more
disease-resistant, little disease, but cats, serious environmental
pollution, immunity decline, coupled with cross-infection of poultry
to significantly increase the incidence and therefore should be
closed off to a vaccination. According to the main vaccination Yawen,
cholera two of Miao, E. vaccines several major vaccines. Ngan good
health care while also picked regularly disinfected. Using surface
culture, but also leave in the summer, and the removal of soil water
dung, reservoirs be disinfected.Article from Institute of Science in Society (UK), looking at wild birds wrongly blamed for h5n1 spread; also re farming – should be closing factory farms, not small farms.
Fowl Play in Bird Fluhttp://www.xnyts.com/qinhai/tra6-7/tra7yes23.htm
“Wildlife — Bantouyan [bar-headed goose]”Ngan-eye, Ap Section. Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an altitude of
2000-4000 meters of the shore of the lake and river island cliffs
human habitation, a brown sky, and after the fate of each villager a
clear “U” – shaped black bands streak, so called “Bantouyan.” [Bar-headed geese, here in flock?]To
Xiahou birds annually from the South move to mid-March, the winter
season has returned to the South. Qinghai Lake Diaodao this bird more
artificial incubation Bantouyan Diaodao management centres have been
successful. Their relatively docile temperament, size map goose eggs,
meat dish, down huge, irregular reeds and algae, plankton.Puzzling – after no evidence of H5N1 on wintering grounds of bar-headed geese – and disturbing report:
Quote:The Ministry of Agriculture on Friday confirmed another case of bird flu outbreak among wild birds in a remote area of Northwest China’s Qinghai Province.Seventeen bar-headed geese were found dead on a wetland in Yushu County on April 23.
The number of dead wild birds had risen to 125 by Thursday, of which 123 were bar-headed geese, the ministry said on its website.
The national bird flu laboratory on Wednesday confirmed the dead birds were tested positive for the H5N1 strain, a highly contagious virus strain that had killed 12 people in the country.
The place where the outbreak happened is a high and cold area, located more than 800 kilometres away from Xining, the provincial capital, and Qinghai Lake, which is an important habitant of a vast number of migrant birds.
Yushu County, the nearest human residential area, is also more than 60 kilometres away.
The county only has sparse population and no domestic poultries are fed nearby, said the ministry.
No bird flu outbreak was reported in the province’s domestic fowls.
The province’s veterinary departments has sterilized the area and is keeping a close eye on any new cases, said the ministry.
Nearby livestock have been transferred to summer pastures far from the outbreak location.
Local authorities have demanded local herdsmen keep a distance from the dead birds to prevent the virus from contaminating human beings.
The outbreak is the second case found in the province in a month after a dead bar-headed goose in Gangcha County was found carrying the deadly virus last Saturday.
It’s taken way too long, but at last more concerted efforts by conservationists to try to put record straight re migratory birds and H5N1.
Quote:WASHINGTON (AP) – Trade in animals, both legal and illegal, is a more
likely culprit in spreading bird flu than wild migrating birds, some
of the world’s top wild bird experts said Friday.Bird flu has spread from Asia throughout Europe and Africa, but it
hasn’t yet reached North America.“Wild bird monitoring is important, but the real threat comes from
trade in poultry,” John Flicker, the National Audubon Society’s
president, said after a Capitol Hill briefing.Peter Johan Schei, director of Norway’s Fridtjof Nansen Institute and
chairman of BirdLife International, a global alliance of conservation
organizations, said the United States and other governments should
boost trade protections but not lessen attention to bird migration
routes.Schei and Leon Bennun, BirdLife International’s science policy
director, agreed that illegally imported poultry and other animal
products pose the most immediate risk.“It doesn’t mean we have to stop monitoring wild birds,” Bennun said.
Senior U.S. administration officials have said they, too, worry about
the bird flu arriving through the estimated $10 billion US global
trade in wild animals, pets and animal parts. Hundreds of federal
agents from several government agencies are policing borders, ports,
airports and other places.Graham Wynne, head of Britain’s Royal Society for the Protection of
Birds, said it’s not just a U.S. problem.“Virtually every government around the world is putting too little
emphasis on trade and poultry,” Wynne said. “You really can’t do too
much vigilance on the movement of poultry products because that’s
going to be the most likely route in.”Wild bird experts say the virus appears to be spreading along trade
routes. They point to Africa’s first cases of bird flu, which were
discovered at a farm in Nigeria in February.“Most of these outbreaks have not been directly related to the
migration of birds,” said Lim Kim Keang, head of the Nature Society’s
bird group in Singapore. He cited the daily smuggling of an estimated
4,500 chickens into Vietnam from China. The H5N1 virus has shown up
in samples taken from some of the confiscated birds.Too much remains unknown about the virus, Bennun said. “That means
people are working largely on assumptions, and assumptions can be
dangerous,” he said.Experts say illegal animal trade a bigger bird-flu concern than migrating fowl
Robert Webster has been chief scientific blamer of wild birds as vectors of H5N1; and yet, this recently published.
Quote:By Margie Mason, Associated Press | May 3, 2006
SINGAPORE — A top bird flu specialist predicted yesterday that the H5N1 virus will not reach the United States this year via migratory birds, and warned bird smuggling poses a bigger threat for transmitting the deadly disease.Robert G. Webster, a virologist at the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, said the virus will eventually arrive in the United States, possibly carried by infected birds illegally brought into the country.
”While wildlife people in the United States are watching for the appearance of this virus, I would suspect that it may not come this year,” he said, adding it has been rare for bird flu viruses to reach the Americas from Europe.
”If it doesn’t come this year, don’t relax, because it will eventually come,” said Webster, in Singapore for a two-day conference that is expected to draw leading bird flu experts.
…
Webster said he is most concerned about H5N1 becoming established in the world’s wild bird populations because most highly pathogenic bird flu viruses usually do not last long in nature. They typically start in wild birds, infect domestic birds and eventually die out.
”This one has broken the rules and gone back from the domestics into the wild birds. Is it going to be perpetuated there as a killer? That’s the million-dollar question,” he said….
Smuggling a threat to carry bird flu to US, specialist says
Says migratory birds are not a concern this year
notion of a disease “being perpetuated there as a killer” is quirky.Webster not much into natural selection, all this new-fangled evolution theory (from Darwin on) it seems.
Yes, not alone in this; seems to many people, viruses don’t evolve, they just mutate, and chance dictates outcome; I’ve even seen one guy suggestion a human pandemic could happen via magical mutation. Very odd.Quote:SINGAPORE, May 3 (Reuters) –A leading flu expert warned the scientific community on Wednesday against blaming the spread of the H5N1 virus on migratory birds, saying the movement of poultry around the world could play a major role. "We forget that there is an enormous commercial industry with the movement of animals all the time. That, to me, is the most obvious thing to look for," said Kennedy Shortridge, who spent three decades studying influenza viruses. "Don’t rush to blame migratory birds straightaway," he said in Singapore at a bird flu conference organised by the Lancet medical journal. Shortridge’s assertions would probably not sit well with many experts in this field [and many idiots in or not really in the field], who have credited the spread of the H5N1 virus in parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East in the past few months to wild migratory birds from China’s Qinghai Lake. An outbreak of virus in Qinghai Lake last May killed thousands of birds and that particular strain of the virus has since been found in affected places in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. That gave rise to the popular theory the virus was probably brought to these places by surviving wild birds from Qinghai, in remote western China. But Shortridge questioned this, saying: "Birds go north-south, they don’t usually go east-west."
RAILWAY LINES OR MIGRATORY ROUTES?
"There’s a railway line that runs from there to one side of Qinghai Lake and there’s a road that goes to the other side. If you look at the movements with H5N1, they don’t seem to tie in with migratory bird routes for the simple reason they seem to follow the Trans-Siberian railway," he added. "Lots of people don’t realize that there’s movement of poultry from one country to another, even to Nigeria, where we’ve got bird flu. People are transporting all sorts of poultry meat." Several nations are already clamping down on poultry smuggling. Vietnam is redoubling efforts to limit smuggling from China after uncovering bird flu cases in poultry in northern border areas. Bangladesh, too, is stepping up surveillance to prevent illegal shipments from bird flu-hit India. Hong Kong is also beefing up border patrols to stop live chickens and poultry meat being carried into the territory illegally from mainland China. Since re-emerging in Asia in late 2003, the H5N1 virus has killed 113 people out of 205 reported infections, most notably from Asia, Turkey and Egypt. Although it is predominantly a bird disease and most of the victims contracted the virus directly from birds, experts fear it can mutate into a form that will transmit easily among people and trigger a pandemic of catastrophic proportions…. [deleted some silly speculation by a Japanese scientist; not based on reality]
Poultry shipments also likely spread bird flu -expert
