[BCNnet] Bird Flu editorial - FYI

[Antlitz at aol.com]

It will be interesting to keep tabs on Africa and how the entry of that  
virus may play out  -- for the chickens, for the wildlife, for the  people.
 
It may well be that lower density, active, self-foraging backyard chickens  
might be naturally healthier and  more immune (both the individuals and the  
population structure) to incubating massive outbreaks of new viruses, in  
contract to the sterilized and overcrowded stacked poultry farms in more  
industrialized countries.  
 
We have already had at least one avian virus scare in the form of West Nile  
a few years back.  There were a few bumps, but overall the wild birds  and 
humans survived it together.  It is here to stay and not going  away, along with 
Lyme disease, LaCrosse encephalitis, and various other "bugs"  lurking in our 
backyards.  The best defenses are still maintaining  good health, knowing the 
symptoms, taking sensible precautions, and developing  vaccines and medicines 
for those susceptible unfortunates who do become  ill.  These defences have 
application for the poultry industry as well as  for the human population.  
 
Regarding your statement Lee:  "We all hope that the tracking and  prevention 
measures now being taken are effective and can spare the world from  an 
unimaginable catastrophe. If they are not, we all know that rational answers  won't 
be enough."
 
Maybe it's just the relative brevity of my generation's historic  
perspective, but it does seem to me that in past years the culture is slipping  away from 
tolerance and understanding and more toward strong-arm alarmist  reactionary 
urges.  You may well be right -- rational answers won't be  enough, and 
emotional appeals might be dismissed as simple whinings of bleeding  hearts -- worst 
case scenario would be a public panic of "get the birds before  they get you" 
and suffering the inevitable grating media references to Alfred  Hitchcock, 
etc, etc.   
 
So I think the best approach might be to appeal to "sanity."  That  covers 
and ammeliorates both the emotional and rational side of things.  In  the long 
run, drastic measures will only be counter-productive.  Any  information on 
what species of birds might eat mosquitoes, flies or ticks, not  to mention lawn 
grubs and boxelder bugs?  The notion of the "balance of  ecology" might have 
emotional appeal in tranquil times, but it also has a  tangible practical side 
that could be brought to bare, with both a logical and  emotional thrust of 
its own.  
 
Debbie Antlitz
 
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