Bird Flu is Back in the News....We as Parrot Owners should be worried!

[tamaran2]

Even though bird flu was ruled out, they are still going door to door. They are culling (killing) chickens by the 100's of thousand and plan on more.

They don't have to many people with pet birds in their homes in Indian. What will happen in the US when they get a scare of bird flu?????

I'm worried...Are you as a parrot owner?



Health scare in Indian state as bird flu spreads

Health scare in Indian state as bird flu spreads

Medical workers were going door-to-door to look for people with symptoms of avian influenza in northeast India Friday as the infection in birds spread further, officials said.
So far, no human cases of infection of the deadly H5N1 virus have been reported in the affected Assam state, but authorities stepped up a health drive after 150 people developed some symptoms of the infection.

"About 150 people were treated for fever and upper respiratory tract infections in bird flu-hit areas. We have put the patients in isolation," senior health official Parthajyoti Gogoi told AFP.

Bird flu was ruled out in all cases, the official said.

The virus has spread in the past two weeks across six Assam districts, where an estimated 300,000 people live in the affected areas.

More than 250,000 poultry have been slaughtered so far and an estimated 150,000 more have been ordered to be killed.

The government was "worried" about the infection spreading to humans, as authorities may not be able to cope, local health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The sale of poultry and poultry products has been banned in most parts of the state.

India reported its worst outbreak of bird flu early this year in the eastern state of West Bengal.

The WHO says the deadly H5N1 strain has killed nearly 250 people, mostly in Southeast Asia, since 2003.

[tishtash]

Yikes! That makes me glad that Australia has ridiculously tight importation laws and we're isolated on an island. That would be heart breaking if they had to kill off pet birds :(

[tamaran2]

Originally Posted by tishtash

Yikes! That makes me glad that Australia has ridiculously tight importation laws and we're isolated on an island. That would be heart breaking if they had to kill off pet birds :(

Doesn't matter about import laws, they are telling the media, the world and anyone else who will buy into it. That migration will spead this one.

Again, in the USA they have gone door to door and culled (killed) peoples parrots due to other diseases.

[pippy]

Have you not yet had Avian Flu in the US?

As you probably know there have been a few scares here in the UK which I believe were put down to migrating birds. This happened before I became a parrot owner so I've just had a look at the relevant govt website.

Defra, UK - Disease surveillance and control - Notifiable diseases - Avian Influenza

Doesn't look as though a cull of indoor pet birds would be a likely scenario here...

Defra, UK - Disease surveillance and control - Notifiable diseases - Avian Influenza - Advice to poultry keepers

I bloody well hope not anyway!

Certainly poultry flocks were/would be culled.

[tamaran2]

Originally Posted by pippy

Have you not yet had Avian Flu in the US?

As you probably know there have been a few scares here in the UK which I believe were put down to migrating birds. This happened before I became a parrot owner so I've just had a look at the relevant govt website.

Defra, UK - Disease surveillance and control - Notifiable diseases - Avian Influenza

Doesn't look as though a cull of indoor pet birds would be a likely scenario here...

Defra, UK - Disease surveillance and control - Notifiable diseases - Avian Influenza - Advice to poultry keepers

I bloody well hope not anyway!

Certainly poultry flocks were/would be culled.

Yes it was way back when in Maryland I believe, 30 or more years ago. I'd have to look it up. But they put some chicken farmers out of business. ( Lisa B. might have the doc's on this.)

But with Newcastle in Calf. They did go door to door and they put peoples pet parrots that had NEVER even been outside, so their was NO way they were exposed, but that did not matter they killed them anyway. Some of them were killed right in front of their crying, begging owners!

[pippy]

Originally Posted by tamaran2

Yes it was way back when in Maryland I believe, 30 or more years ago. I'd have to look it up. But they put some chicken farmers out of business. ( Lisa B. might have the doc's on this.)

But with Newcastle in Calf. They did go door to door and they put peoples pet parrots that had NEVER even been outside, so their was NO way they were exposed, but that did not matter they killed them anyway. Some of them were killed right in front of their crying, begging owners!

OMG that is just barbaric and incomprehensible

[kellywess]

That is just horrible and unbelievable to think it would come to that. I'd be damned... no actually anyone posing to do harm to my beloved pets would. I have a gun. A big one.

[tamaran2]

Originally Posted by kellywess

That is just horrible and unbelievable to think it would come to that. I'd be damned... no actually anyone posing to do harm to my beloved pets would. I have a gun. A big one.

Kelly,

This is why this issue of "ownership" verse "guardianship" is very important to ALL of us right now. Here is why, if they do get it changed, and they are reving up the heat to do it, then they have taken away your rights as an owner. If something like this or any other thing were to happen you loss your rights, your pet and due process of law. You will not be the owner, the gov., either on a state level or local level would be the owner, you would just be the guardian....

Here is an issue, one of the major reasons I did not vote for Obama. (NOT TO GET IN A POLITICAL DEBATE HERE...PLEASE) Alot of major support in the way of money to get him in office, came from these Animal Rights groups, the ones pushing to take away your rights. They will want favors in return for their support, it is the way politics work, sad but true.

I'm really concerned with this, so should anyone that owns a pet, You all should be aware and looking to fight this.

Don't get me wrong here, I'm against animals being abused in any form. I'm for animal welfare not these animal rights groups.

If there is even a scare of Bird Flu here in the states and you could find yourself facing this.

[tamaran2]

I'm sorry to be on this subject but we all need to be aware of these thing, they did happen and they can happen, if we don't become aware and fight this.

Here is the law suit filed in the NewCastle case in Calf. in 2003...

I'll give you the website but quote alittle to show you what our government can do if there is a outbreak or in the case of India above, a scare of an outbreak...

Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and the Mass Killing of Birds Petition

The unintentionally chaotic creation of the END Task Force has created the opportunity for any government employee, out-of-state veterinarian and temporary employee to have apparent authority and flaunt the law with impunity under the Emergency Services Act. Thus, many of the Task Force Commanders and subordinates are:

committing quasi-terrorist acts by using force, fear, violence or threat of the same to coerce citizens into surrendering their civil and constitutional rights and denying them to the right to have legal counsel and threatening them because they had gotten an attorney;

illegally searching properties without search warrants, obtaining illegal search warrants, obtaining search warrants by false and inaccurate statements and without any proof that the property being searched had any infected birds at all, using search warrants that are un-Constitutionally broad in the extreme which is so extensive that they surpass the scope of search warrants in criminal cases for notorious and dangerous criminals;

knowingly directly contacting and intimidating individuals represented by counsel,

failing to follow proper legal procedure and violating due process and equal protection of the law;

violating civil and Constitutional rights of citizens by unnecessarily murdering disease-free pet birds;

removing expensive and rare bird(s) during a massacre of healthy pet birds without notifying owner of the bird(s) in what appears to have been an attempt to steal the bird(s) for the personal interests of the Task Force agent(s),

violating civil and Constitutional rights of citizens first by failing to get a court order to determine whether or not the birds have been infected and secondly by failing to allowing personal veterinary treatment of infected or sick birds who have been proven to be ill with END;

ignoring bio-security protocols and risking the further spread of END;

obstruction of justice by withholding and suppression of prima facie lab test evidence and statements of victims of these police state actions and terror tactics;

obstructing justice by theft of legal documents;

violating Constitutional and statutory provisions for due process by failing to informed or lying to citizens about their rights and privileges;

ignoring test results and current veterinary science;

improperly threatening citizens with arrest and terror tactics/police state tactics; and

generally misusing and abusing their authority and establishing a precedent and a policy that undermines the most fundamental Constitutional protections as well as the founding principals of this nation for which so many Americans have fight and died for in order to uphold.

There are known treatments or supportive care for non-poultry birds and vaccines for END that make depopulation of even sick birds unnecessary, which are being ignored by the Task Force.

The Task Force is indisputably committing mass murder of the People’s pets, companions and show birds. Euthanasia is for a bird that is sick or in pain. Murder is for those who are not sick or in pain.

The Task Force claims that the public eradication program humanely euthanizes the birds when destroyed. However, when a personal veterinarian administer euthanasia it is done through barbiturate injection. The Task Force utilizes carbon dioxide, gun shots, and cervical dislocation, which is only humane if done properly according to the Report of the AVMA Panel of Euthanasia, published March 2001. Other methods used, such as bludgeoning, suffocation and wood chippers are not considered humane death under any circumstance.

The Task Force pretends that the fatality rate is 90 – 95% in unvaccinated birds. In fact these are not disease related deaths, but rather depopulation statistics. Only 2-5% of all depopulated birds thus far were infected or became sick from the exotic Newcastle Disease Virus,

The Task Force labels a site as positive because a depopulation crew has murdered all of the birds on the premises. This occurs even when there is no evidence of exotic Newcastle Disease Virus ever being on the premises or having been the cause of any illness.

USDA veterinarian supervisors on the Task Force depopulation and other crews are not in fact or law California licensed veterinarians, or AVMA Board Certified Avian Veterinarians.

Petitioner has no plain, speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law, other than the relief sought in this petition, in that the emergency order was made effective immediately, without findings and without administrative recourse.

Petitioners respectfully request injunctive relief from the application of the Proclamation of the Governor of the State of California filed January 7, 2003 and the Declaration of Extraordinary Emergency because of Extraordinary Emergency because of Exotic Newcastle Disease, Docket No. 03-001-01; Federal No. 03-495 filed 1-9-03.

This Petition is based upon this document, the Supplemental Record to be submitted, the Declarations of Petitioners and others, and such record as the Court deems appropriate to review.

Another Article : Disease Task Force Eyeing Pet Birds
By Bob Pool and Tina Daunt Disease Task Force Eyeing Pet Birds - Los Angeles Times

State and federal agents trying to control the spread of a deadly avian disease have killed 3.4 million birds in Southern California – some of them household parrots and parakeets – and have enlisted hundreds of investigators, mail carriers and talkative neighbors to help identify homes with birds.

Officials with the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force say they must take extreme measures to halt the disease, which spreads like a virulent flu, before it wipes out the state’s $3-billion poultry industry.

Since the disease was discovered in September in a backyard flock of chickens in Compton, task force members have placed wide swaths of Southern California under quarantine. They walk door-to-door, searching for sick birds. If a bird is suspected of having the disease, it is killed immediately, in some cases in front of crying owners.

Bird lovers complain that they are more frightened of the task force than the disease.

Actor-producer Jeff Maxwell, who owns a 22-year-old parrot, said he watched in shock as a task force agent last weekend jotted down the address and a description of his Alhambra home and then entered its global positioning satellite coordinates into a hand-held computer. He later learned from his mailman that USDA officials have enlisted the Postal Service into reporting the addresses of bird owners.

The task force has been given “carte blanche to kill any feathered thing on your property or your house regardless of whether it tests positive,” Maxwell said. “The thought of somebody driving to my door, which now could happen because I’ve been identified as being a bird owner, and coming in and killing my bird in front of me is outrageous.”

Annette Whiteford, who helps manage the task force on behalf of the state Department of Food and Agriculture, has spent months fielding similar complaints from angry and distraught bird owners.

Now lets take this One step further. As Cnn is always saying, "Follow the Money Trail"

Who benefits from the manufacture of a 'pandemic vaccine'?
Rumsfeld To Profit From Bird Flu Rumsfeld To Profit From Bird Flu Hoax

Here I give you the highlites:

Do you know that it was the Americans who alerted us to the efficacy of the human antiviral TAMIFLU as a preventative.
Do you know that TAMIFLU barely alleviates some symptoms of the common flu?
Do you know that its efficacy against the common flu is questioned by a great part of the scientific community?
Do you know that against a SUPPOSED mutant virus such as H5N1, TAMIFLU barely alleviates the illness?
Do you know that to date Avian Flu affects birds only?
Do you know who markets TAMIFLU? ROCHE LABORATORIES.
Do you know who bought the patent for TAMIFLU from ROCHE LABORATORIES in 1996? GILEAD SCIENCES INC.
Do you know who was the then president of GILEAD SCIENCES INC. and remains a major shareholder? DONALD RUMSFELD, the present Secretary of Defence of the USA.
Do you know that the base of TAMIFLU is crushed aniseed?
Do you know who controls 90% of the world's production of this tree? ROCHE.
Do you know that sales of TAMIFLU were over $254 million in 2004 and more than $1000 million in 2005?
Do you know how many more millions ROCHE can earn in the coming months if the business of fear continues?

So the summary of the story is as follows:

Bush's friends decide that the medicine TAMIFLU is the solution for a pandemic that has not yet occurred and that has caused a hundred deaths worldwide in 9 years. This medicine doesn't so much as cure the common flu. In normal conditions the virus does not affect humans. Rumsfeld sells the patent for TAMIFLU to ROCHE for which they pay him a fortune. Roche acquires 90% of the global production of crushed aniseed, the base for the antivirus. The governments of the entire world threaten a pandemic and then buy industrial quantities of the product from Roche. So we end up paying for medicine while Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush do the business.

[r2rusmc]

Originally Posted by tamaran2

Yes it was way back when in Maryland I believe, 30 or more years ago. I'd have to look it up. But they put some chicken farmers out of business. ( Lisa B. might have the doc's on this.)

But with Newcastle in Calf. They did go door to door and they put peoples pet parrots that had NEVER even been outside, so their was NO way they were exposed, but that did not matter they killed them anyway. Some of them were killed right in front of their crying, begging owners!

You really need to learn some facts before you restart this ugly rumor.

First of all just because the bird wasn't outside does not mean it could not have been exposed.

END is spread primarily through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily discharges of infected birds. The disease is transmitted through infected birds' droppings and secretions from the nose, mouth, and eyes. END spreads rapidly among birds kept in confinement, such as commercially raised chickens.

High concentrations of the END virus are in birds' bodily discharges. Therefore, the disease can be spread easily by mechanical means. Virus-bearing material can be picked up on shoes and clothing and carried from an infected flock to a healthy one. The disease is often spread by vaccination and debeaking crews, manure haulers, rendering truck drivers, feed delivery personnel, poultry buyers, egg service people, and poultry farm owners and employees.

The END virus can survive for several weeks in a warm and humid environment on birds' feathers, manure, and other materials. It can survive indefinitely in frozen material. However, the virus is destroyed rapidly by dehydration and by the ultraviolet rays in sunlight.

Smuggled pet birds, especially Amazon parrots from Latin America, pose a great risk of introducing exotic Newcastle into U.S. poultry flocks. Amazon parrots that are carriers of the disease but do not show symptoms are capable of shedding END virus for more than 400 days.

As for the killing of birds in front of their owners, that too is but a rumor started by ticked off people.

Do you really believe that the professionals that had a job to do are that heartless and cruel?

Furthermore, the owners were offered the option of testing and quarantine. Most chose the money given in exchange for euthanasia.