bird flu

No need to kill pigeons vs h5n1

Letter I sent Sunday Morning Post, appeared today (edited a little there):

Quote:
I refer to the letter from O.H. Mark (4 January), saying we need a strategy to cull pigeons.

Sadly, it appears O.H. Mark is among those who have been hoodwinked by people claiming we are threatened by flu carried by wild birds including pigeons. Such claims have more to do with finding scapegoats for the shortcomings of the poultry industry, coupled with ignorance of evolution, than of reality.

While birds - especially waterfowl - indeed carry a variety of bird flus, they are not major vectors of the nasty variants of H5N1 that have evolved in the poultry industry. This is because the nasty variants are lethal to most birds; and as dead ducks - and dead pigeons - don't fly, the variants quickly die out in the wild.

Submitted by Martin Williams on 18 January 2009 - 4:40pm

Sparrows the scapegoats for H5N1 in chicken farm

Ah, isn't ignorance bliss, especially when you're an "expert".

Today's South China Morning Post has a report including:

Quote:
Experts who visited the Yuen Long chicken farm at the centre of the latest bird flu outbreak found important evidence flying around - sparrows.
The experts believe that chickens and sparrows, which can carry the H5 virus, living together signalled a serious failure in the farm's bio-security measures and may have caused the bird flu outbreak last month.

Submitted by Martin Williams on 6 January 2009 - 10:17am

Reopen Mai Po - H5N1 is not a threat there

Here's a letter I had published in Sunday Morning Post (26 March 2006):

Quote:
Dear Sir: It's now spring, and across east Asia there has been no evidence of H5N1 in migratory wild birds this winter. Here in Hong Kong, a few resident local birds died of H5N1, their infections were likely linked to poultry smuggling around Chinese New Year. Most were in Kowloon and on Hong Kong Island, also suggesting a connection to bird markets.

Submitted by DocMartin on 28 March 2006 - 12:55am

No Flu at Mai Po

Went birdwatching at Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve, in northwest Hong Kong, today. Whilst there, I grabbed some photos using digital camera thro telescope - including this one.

Now, what do you reckon the Black Kites are doing in this tree?

a) Waiting to feast on the bodies of H5N1 bird flu victims.

b) Feeling very ill, and ready to fall on their backs, legs waving in the air, as they succumb to the great pandemic of 2005: ie Bird Flu Panic.

c) Trying to sit as high as they can, so they don't get caught up in the hysteria.

d) Just resting, on a tranquil Tuesday afternoon.

The answer - plus more photos and some guff about today - below.

Submitted by DocMartin on 1 November 2005 - 3:23pm
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