Rabies strikes Namibian kudu

June 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2006:

WINDHOEK–Veterin-arians Otto Zapke and
Beate Voights in mid-May 2006 reportedly
confirmed that a rare outbreak of rabies
spreading from herbivore to herbivore during the
past two years was responsible for the deaths of
“thousands” of kudu in the Omaruru region of
Namibia.
“Sources in the industry have voiced
concern that the outbreak could impact negatively
on the hunting season,” reported Chrispin
Inambao of the Windhoek New Era. “People come to
Namibia because of kudus,” Inambao said a
hunting industry source told him. About 5,000
hunters per year visit Namibia.

India tries, but cannot find a humane way to kill poultry to stamp out H5N1

May 2, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

JALGAON, India–Veterinarian Abdul Kalim Khan died of
jaundice, not the H5N1 avian influenza, Maharashtra state animal
husbandry commissioner Bijay Kumar told media on April 24, 2006.
Khan fell ill soon after helping to kill nearly 200,000 chickens in
the Jalgaon area to contain an H5N1 outbreak, Kumar explained, but
his illness had a different origin.
Through May 2, 2006, India had not yet had any of the 113
reported human H5N1 fatalities worldwide, but at least seven poultry
farmers committed suicide after losing their flocks and/or customers.
Indian poultry sales were reportedly down 40% to 60%, after
averaging 17% growth in recent years. India has the world’s sixth
largest poultry industry, with about 500 million birds on farms at
any given time.

Hong Kong seeks to end live markets & pig farming

May 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

Hong Kong–Citing H5N1 prevention as an urgent pretext, the
Hong Kong Health, Welfare, & Food Bureau in February 2006 asked the
Legislative Council to ban live poultry sales by 2009, a goal the
bureau has pursued since 1997.
Under a permit buy-back plan introduced in 2004, 272 of 814
live chicken vendors and 30 of 200 Hong Kong chicken growers have
gone out of business, the bureau said.
The Hong Kong government is also trying to buy out and close
all 265 local pig farms, which raise 330,000 pigs per year,
producing 520 metric tons of waste per day. Pigs have in the past
been an intermediary host for avian flus that spread to humans.
However, the Legislative Council panel on Food Safety and
Environmental hygiene on April 11 rejected the Health, Welfare, and
Food Bureau’s plan to require all poultry sold in Hong Kong to be
slaughtered at a central plant to be built in the New Territories,
the semi-rural district between the mainland and the cities of
Kowloon and Hong Kong. The plan was also voted down by the North
District Council–because incoming poultry might bring in H5N1.

Risk of cats giving H5N1 to humans is small, says Euro Centre for Disease Prevention & Control

May 1, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2006:

ROTTERDAM, STOCKHOLM, LONDON– “Cats could fuel bird flu
pandemic,” headlined the April 5 edition of The Times of London,
sparking similar headlines worldwide–but the risk is small,
responded the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in
Stockholm, Sweden, after reviewing the evidence.
“A distinction needs to be made,” reminded the European
Centre, “between species which can occasionally be infected by a
particular influenza, but who rarely transmit it,” such as cats,
“and those species in which it seems that the viruses are better
adapted and transmitted,” such as birds.
Cats were first known to be vulnerable to H5N1, the European
Centre response continued, in December 2003, “when a few leopards
and tigers died in a zoo in Thailand after being fed infected
poultry.” Later came “a much larger H5N1 outbreak in zoo tigers,
also in Thailand, who had been fed chicken carcasses. Over 140
tigers died or were euthanised. There was convincing evidence of
tiger to tiger transmission.

United Nations Environment Program warns about ecological consequences of H5N1

April 2, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

GENEVA–The United Nations Environment Program warned on
March 22, 2006 that, “Culling poultry [to control avian flu H5N1],
especially in developing nations where chicken is a key source of
protein, may put new and unacceptable pressure on a wide range of
creatures,” who may be hunted as alternate protein, “from wild pigs
to endangered great apes.”
UNEP also warned against culling wild birds and draining
wetlands to discourage congregations of waterfowl, who appear to be
victims of H5N1 more than carriers.
Now afflicting 45 nations, H5N1 has been found in 87 bird
species, including many of the most common and broadly ranging–and
carrion-eaters such as kites, crows, and buzzards, known to have
strong resistance to most pathogens.

BOOKS: Making health decisions on behalf of our animal companions

March 2, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

Making health decisions on behalf of our animal companions
by Shannon Fujimoto Nakaya, DVM

New World Library (14 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949), 2005.
155 pages, paperback. $13.95.

Have you ever wondered how a veterinarian
feels when a someone rushes in with an animal and
screams for help, then expects an instant and
accurate diagnosis without giving any relevant
patient history?
Veterinarian Shannon Fujimoto Nakaya
emphasizes that, “Making health decisions on
behalf of our animal companion begins with
noticing when things are differentŠ” She lists
questions that should be asked of a vet when
seeking a diagnosis. She notes that it is not
unreasonable to ask your vet to explain things in
terms that you understand, and also not
unreasonable to get a second opinion.

A little girl who loved her chickens

March 2, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

An irony of the H5N1 global epidemic is that many of the
youngest human victims are those with the most positive attitudes
toward poultry–like Sumeyya Makuk of Van, Turkey.
“Sumeyya Mamuk considered the chickens in her yard to be
beloved pets. The 8-year-old girl fed them, petted them, and took
care of them,” wrote Benjamin Harvey of Associated Press. “When
they started to get sick and die, she hugged them and tenderly
kissed them goodbye.
“The chickens were sick. One had puffed up and she touched
it. We told her not to. She loved chickens a lot,” said her
father, Abdulkerim Mamuk. “She held them in her arms.”
Continued Harvey, “Her oldest brother Sadun said Sumeyya
loved animals and took care of puppies and kittens.
When her mother saw Sumeyya holding one of the dying
chickens, she yelled at her and hit the girl to get her away.
Sumeyya began to cry. She wiped her tears with the hand she’d been
using to comfort the dying chicken,” and fell ill herself.
Prompt treatment at the Van 100th Year Hospital saved Sumeyya
Mamuk, Harvey reported.

$1.2 million for wrongful dismissal

March 2, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

HOUSTON–The Texas 1st Court of Appeals in mid-February 2006
upheld a $1.2 million state district court jury award for wrongful
dismissal made to former Houston city veterinarian Sam Levingston,
DVM, 75.
“The case began when Levingston, who worked for the city for
eight years, sued the Bureau of Animal Regulation and Care after he
was fired in May 2000,” wrote Alexis Grant of the Houston Chronicle.
“He said he was fired for complaining that employees were not
properly caring for animals. The city said Levingston was fired
because a dog and her puppies died while in his care.”
Houston city attorney’s office division chief Connie Acosta
said the city would seek a rehearing.

Falcons, chickens, & avian flu

March 2, 2006 Archivist Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2006:

Falconing, along with factory farming, cockfighting,
bird-shooting, wild bird trafficking, and keeping caged songbirds,
has emerged as a factor in the increasingly rapid global spread of
the deadly H5N1 avian influenza.
As the March 2006 edition of ANIMAL PEOPLE went to press, 92
humans in seven nations had died from H5N1. More than 30 nations had
experienced H5N1 outbreaks since 2003, 14 of them since February 1,
2006. Hit, in chronological order, were Iraq, Nigeria,
Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Iran, Austria,
Germany, Egypt, India, France, and Hungary.
More than 200 million domestic fowl have been killed in
mostly futile efforts to contain H5N1, according to the United
Nations Food & Agriculture Organization–almost entirely because of
the persistence of practices long opposed by the humane community.
Falconing became implicated when five trained hunting birds
died from H5N1 at a veterinary clinic in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Saudi agriculture ministry officials confiscated and killed 37
falcons who were kept at the clinic.

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