Wild birds not to blame

Wild birds not to blame February 5, 2007

Posted by Andy Roberts in : Bird Flu, UK , trackback

Circumstantial evidence points to bird flu spreading along transport routes of international trade rather than from migrating birds. Locals in the Suffolk town near the Bernard Mathews turkey factory report many Hungarian lorries going in and out in the past weeks. There was an outbreak of H5N1 in Hungary recently, where Bernard Mathews owns another poultry business.

UK bird flu outbreak matches Hungary case - World - smh.com.au
The Government confirmed the virus - identified in a turkey shed at the Bernard Matthews food business, on Friday - was the same strain found last month in geese on a farm in Hungary.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on Sunday it was investigating the movement of people and animals at the farm, including any links the farm could have had with Hungary, where Mr Matthews owns Saga Foods.

So for the third time in recent living memory the spread of terrible animal diseases is most likely to be linked to intensive factory farming methods, the treatment of animals as commodities for long distance markets and the relentless drive to reduce production costs in order to maintain profitability. No need to kill all the wild birds then.

RSS feed | Trackback URI