ANIMALNET OCTOBER 29, 2000 Uruguay to slaughter 15,500 animals over foot-and-mouth S.Africa spreads foot-and-mouth quarantine area Foot & mouth disease, swine - Taiwan Avian influenza virus, update California encephalitis, equine - USA (Louisiana) Hantavirus infection - Brazil (Parana) U.S. plan would sacrifice baby eagles to Hopi ritual N.Y. lab to study lobster die - off BBC reports U.S. activists getting terrorist training in U.K. Animal political action committee endorses Gore Whadda ya mean size is neutral On the run with wolf B36 AnimalNet is produced by the Centre for Safe Food at the University of Guelph, and is supported by the Ontario Cattlemen¼s Association, the Canadian Food Information Council, the U.S. National Pork Producers, U.S. National Food Processors Association, Pfizer Animal Health Group, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited (Canada), Canadian Animal Health Institute, Meat & Livestock Australia, Canadian Pork Council, Ontario Pork, Tyson Foods, Ontario Egg Producers, Ontario Farm Animal Council, U.S. National Cattlemens Beef Association, the Rutgers Food Risk Analysis Initiative, Ag-West Biotech, Land O¼ Lakes Feed, Capital Health, Animal Industry Foundation, American Feed Industry Assn., the Ontario Soybean Growers Marketing Board, Food Industry Environmental Network, Canadian Poultry and Egg Processors, Chicken Farmers of Canada, MDS Nordion, American Meat Institute, AdCulture, USDA Veterinary Services (Fort Collins) Alberta Farm Animal Council, and the Agricultural Adaptation Council (CanAdapt Program). archived at: http://www.plant.uoguelph.ca/safefood/archives/animalnet-archives.htm URUGUAY TO SLAUGHTER 15,500 ANIMALS OVER FOOT-AND-MOUTH Oct 29/00 Reuters MONTEVIDEO - A government spokesman was cited as saying Sunday that Uruguayan agricultural authorities plan to slaughter 10,000 sheep, 5,000 cattle and 500 pigs this week as a preventive measure, following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the country's northern pastures, close to the Brazilian border. The story says that the 4,473-square-mile (11,928-sq-km) area was closed off to the entry and departure of livestock products and on Tuesday 60 animals were killed even before test results confirming the outbreak had come back from a laboratory in Rio de Janeiro. The story goes on to say that Uruguay's herd of 10 million cattle, most of which are the prestigious Hereford breed, has been completely clear of foot-and-mouth since 1995. Before Tuesday, a case of the scourge had not been registered in a decade in the small coastal nation of 3.2 million people. S.AFRICA SPREADS FOOT-AND-MOUTH QUARANTINE AREA Oct. 29 2000 Reuters JOHANNESBURG -- South African veterinary officials were cited as spreading a quarantine zone wider in KwaZulu-Natal province on Sunday to try to fight an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease which threatens the country's meat export industry. The story says that the move follows the discovery last week that the disease, which first hit a commercial herd in mid-September, had spread to a free-roaming herd owned by tribal farmers in the Georgedale area of the province, near Pietermaritzburg. The Agricultural Ministry was cited as saying in a statement that the foot-and-mouth disease control centre had extended a quarantine area north and south of Georgedale to include more tribal farmlands. Five cattle in a herd of 34 cattle tested positive last Tuesday in Georgedale, putting more than 5,000 animals at risk. Setoati Mhlangu, a spokesman for the disease control centre, was cited as telling Reuters on Sunday that those animals would be culled, while veterinary teams continued inspecting communal herds of cattle in the quarantine area north and south of Georgedale. He added that so far no new infections had been discovered. FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE, SWINE - TAIWAN Oct. 26 2000 proMED From: M. Cosgriff Source: HealthAnsweres, 25 Oct 2000 [edited] SINGAPORE - Taiwan's livestock industry, still reeling from a deadly foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic in 1997, yesterday reported a fresh outbreak of the contagious virus among pigs. An official at the Council of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said the government had destroyed 5 pigs infected with the disease in the northern county of Taoyuan. An intensive inspection of around 30 pig farms in Taiwan's 9 counties showed no signs of further inspections, he said. The council was still tracking the source of the virus, which it suspected might have come from small farms which failed to vaccinate their animals, he added. According to The Straits Times, Taiwan had ordered a vaccination of livestock following the 1997 outbreak, but isolated cases of infection have been reported. The outbreak 3 years ago forced the authorities to slaughter a quarter of the island's 14 million pigs and decimated what had been a US$1.55 billion-a-year pork export industry. AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS, UPDATE Oct. 27 2000 proMED [1] Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 11:52:33 -0400 From: ProMED-mail Source: Reuters Health, 15 Oct 2000 [edited] Avian Influenza Virus (H4N6) Reported in Canadian Pigs WESTPORT, CT: Canadian and American researchers have isolated avian influenza virus H4N6 from domestic pigs. Because of the prior demonstrations of transmission of avian influenza viruses from pigs to humans and the pandemic potential of avian influenza strains; "The appearance of avian influenza viruses among pigs poses concerns for both veterinary and human health," Dr. Christopher W. Olsen, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues say in the October issue of the Journal of Virology [J Virol 2000;74:9322-9327]. The team reports on their investigation of a Canadian farm where an outbreak of pneumonia in pigs began in October 1999. The researchers isolated 8 viral RNA segments from affected animals. Analysis of these segments "demonstrated that these are wholly avian influenza viruses of the North American lineage," according to the report. Further investigation revealed the identity of the virus as avian influenza virus H4N6, a relative of strains commonly found in Canadian ducks. "To our knowledge...this report is the first to document the isolation of a wholly avian influenza virus from pigs in North America and the isolation of an H4 influenza virus from naturally infected pigs," Dr. Olsen and colleagues point out. "Given the evidence that pigs can support reassortment of human and avian influenza viruses, including the recent isolations of human-avian-swine triple reassortant H3N2 and H1N2 viruses from pigs in the United States, it is prudent that we enhance surveillance for atypical influenza viruses in pigs as part of overall pandemic preparedness efforts and that we consider the potential for these H4N6 viruses, or H4 reassortant viruses, to enter the human population." [2] Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 00:14:08 +0800 From: H.L. Penning Source: South China Morning Post, Sat 21 Oct 2000 [edited] Footprinnt of H5N1 virus detected Hong Kong Poultry Farm HONG KONG: Signs of a virus similar to the avian influenza virus that killed 6 people in 1997 have been found on a Yuen Long farm. It is the first time that the "footprint" of the H5 virus has been found in Hong Kong since the crisis 3 years ago, which turned the international spotlight on the territory and led to the slaughter of one million chickens. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officials said last night that inspectors had found chickens at a farm in Ngau Tam Mei which appeared to have been exposed to the avian virus. The 10 000 chickens - now isolated - will be destroyed if more sophisticated test results available next week confirm they contain the H5 virus. The department has ordered the farm to stop supplying chickens and is checking other farms. Workers at the Ngau Tam Mei farm are also being tested. Assistant department director Dr Liu Kwei-kin said that based on preliminary tests, the virus was unlikely to pose a significant risk to the public. There was no evidence of disease at the farm. "So far we have only found antibodies, or the 'footprint' of the virus," he said. Dr Liu said there were 3 possibilities for the test results - the antibodies were reacting to a different virus; the H5 virus was one that did not cause disease; or the H5 virus was one that did cause disease. The department said it would introduce new measures to ensure chickens were safe to eat. All batches of chickens supplied from the territory's 120 farms would be tested before they were sold. The department would take more than 1500 blood samples from the farms, or 13 samples from each farm, in the coming week. The 18 poultry farms in Yuen Long will be inspected first. At present, the department only takes samples from local farms every 2 months. On Thursday, the department found 24 of the 52 chicken blood samples obtained from the Yuen Long farms showed traces of antibodies to H5. It is understood that more than 2000 chickens from the Yuen Long farm, imported from the mainland, have reached the market since the last inspection. Aquatic birds such as geese and ducks are the sources of H5 virus. The Government began segregating the farming and slaughter of chickens and water birds after the 1997 crisis. "The Yuen Long chicken farm does not keep water birds. We still have to investigate the source of the virus. We do think the segregation policy is very effective," Dr Liu said. Imported chickens undergo tests on the mainland and in the SAR. The 1997 crisis began when the H5N1 virus, previously found only in poultry, mutated and infected people. A total of 18 people were infected and 6 died. Dr Daniel Lavanchy, chief of the WHO's influenza division, said from Geneva last night that he was not surprised by yesterday's announcement. "As H5 could be epidemic among migrating birds, occasionally we will see chickens also affected." He said there was no cause for alarm as long as no human infection was spotted. [Byline Ella Lee, Martin Wong & Antoine So] CALIFORNIA ENCEPHALITIS, EQUINE - USA (LOUISIANA) Oct. 27 2000 proMED [see also: 1997 California encephalitis - USA (New York State) 19970805.1625] Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 22:29:22 -0400 From: Martin Hugh-Jones First Cases of California encephalitis in Equines in Louisiana According to Dr. Louise McFarland, lately Louisiana State Epidemiologist, we have 2 recent cases of California encephalitis (CE) in equines in Louisiana, both in Livingston Parish, and confirmed by CDC. Horse I: Onset 15 Aug 2000, 2.5 years old, no current vaccinations, presumed to be now dead as only one blood sample was provided. Horse II: Onset 18 September, 1.5 years old, died, vaccinated against Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) in April of this year. Serology is as follows: Horse I Horse II EEE IgM 512 <64 WEE IgM 256 <64 CE IgM 512 <64 SLE IgM 256 <64 EEE IgG 128 64 WEE IgG 128 64 CE IgG 1024 256 SLE IgG 128 64 As this is serology on single blood samples, it can only be regarded as presumptive, however persuasive. In the past we have had some 6 human cases of California encephalitis during the past dozen years. These are the first equine cases of California encephalitis in Louisiana. This year there have been only 5 equine cases of Eastern Equine Encephalitis: i.e. St Landry Parish (11 Sep 2000), Vernon (24 Mar 2000), Tangipahoa (4 May 2000), Livingston (16 May 2000), and East Baton Rouge (2 May 2000). Martin Hugh-Jones Dept. of Epidemiology & Community Health, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803-8404, USA HANTAVIRUS INFECTION - BRAZIL (PARANA) Oct. 27 2000 proMED Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 14:56:32 -0200 From: Ivan Teixeira Source: Folha de Londrina, Fri 27 Oct 2000 [edited] Hantavirus infection - Brazil (Parana) Health authorities have reported that 3 more persons are suspected to have been infected by hantavirus in the Municipality of General Carneiro (36 km southwest of Uniao da Vitoria, Parana). Samples have been sent to the Instituto Adolfo Lutz in Sao Paulo and the results [may be available] within 2 weeks. Until last week [?] 4 more cases were confirmed. The death of a 34 year-old lumberjack was reported in early October. Hantavirus [infection] appeared in reforested areas where wild rats are said to live. Hantavirus was first reported in Parana in 1999 when 7 cases were encountered; 4 in General Carneiro, 2 in Cruz Machado and one in Honorio Serpa. A total of 5 of these 7 cases was fatal. Cases of the disease appeared for the first time in Brazil in 1993 and [up to the present] 65 cases have been reported, 39 of them resulting in deaths. In order to avoid an epidemic a campaign on how to avoid hantavirus infection [has been initiated] among the 2000 workers of the forestry industry, which is the main activity of General Carneiro area. -- Ivan Teixeira Universidade Estadual de Londrina Londrina - Parana Brazil U.S. PLAN WOULD SACRIFICE BABY EAGLES TO HOPI RITUAL Oct. 29 2000 N.Y. Times ANDREW C. REVKIN The U.S. Department of the Interior has, according to this story, decided that Hopi Indians should be allowed to use golden eagle hatchlings collected at a national monument in Arizona in an annual, ancient rite in which the birds are smothered. Department officials were cited as saying they are trying to tread a difficult path to protect wildlife, the park system, the rights of American Indians and religious freedom. But critics say the legal reasoning used by the agency to justify its position, detailed in a rule the agency plans to propose next month, is so broad that it could open the way to much wider hunting and trapping by Indians in parks from Alaska to Florida. National Park Service officials defend the proposal, which is still in draft form, saying it would be applied only to a few clans in the Hopi tribe that have a clear, historical link to the few eagle nests that dot the windswept plateaus in the 56-square- mile park, Wupatki National Monument, which was long tribal territory. For generations, young men have scaled cliffs each spring to gather eaglets, which are considered messengers between the physical and spiritual worlds. The eaglets are reared until July, when they are sacrificed to send them to their spirit home. The story says that a copy of the draft rule was provided to The New York Times. The section that most concerns critics reads that it is possible that the National Park Service "will receive requests from other tribes for similar rule changes to address religious practices." N.Y. LAB TO STUDY LOBSTER DIE - OFF Oct. 29 2000 N.Y. Times AP http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nyregion/AP-EXP-Lobster-Lab.html PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. -- State lobstermen and government officials were cited as announcing the creation of a lab, at the Marine Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, to study a lobster die-off and other diseases plaguing shellfish and finfish. The story says that for the first time, New York, which is providing $1 million, will not have to look to out-of-state facilities for the study of fish diseases. The lab is expected to be in full operation by early next year, but testing on the lobsters have already begun. The lab will share information with Connecticut, which plans to issue $3.5 million in state and federal grants to study the lobster die-off. Glenn Lopez, a professor at the research center, was cited as saying that warm water‹brought on by unusually mild winters the last two years‹could be the culprit. BBC REPORTS U.S. ACTIVISTS GETTING TERRORIST TRAINING IN U.K. Oct. 28 2000 AMP News A documentary aired over the BBC2 television network this week said that young animal rights activists are receiving training in tactics of terror and intimidation from U.K. activists. The program, Beastly Business: Tactics in Terror" interviewed FBI Special Agent David Szady, who said "The Animal Liberation Front is one of the most significant threats we face on the domestic front. They are the most active in using terrorism and violence in to further their cause. This is an export from the UK from the pint of view of a philosophy and a way of activity and we do believe that there's communication between the groups and between the leadership of the groups." A leading member of the Animal Liberation Front in Britain, John Curtin, was also interviewed. "This is seen as the birthplace of the modern animal liberation movement. So they'll come here to see a mature movement, a mass movement... and they'll take that home and go along to their little groups and say 'if we plug away we'll be able to copy what's going on in Britain and we can bring multi-national companies to their knees'." ANIMAL POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE ENDORSES GORE Oct. 28 2000 AMP News The HumaneUSA Political Action Committee, which describes itself as "the non-partison political arm of the animal protection movement" (see AMP News Service, Oct. 19, 2000) has endorsed Vice President Al Gore for President. Its statement may be found at http://www.humaneusa.org/executor.htm Wayne Pacelle, Chairman of HumaneUSA PAC and a vice president of the Humane Society of the United States, and Linda Nealon, executive director of HumaneUSA PAC and wife of comedian Kevin Nealon were among the signers of the endorsement. Most of the reasons for the endorsement center on positions taken by the Gore and Bush campaigns on hunting, fishing, trapping and wildlife issues. However, two statements from Gore's campaign involving animal use in research were favorably cited: word that he would "appoint an EPA Administrator who will end the use of animal test subjects where alternative non-animal test methods are feasible," and a notation from his campaign that "the FY2001 budget proposes $16 million for Animal Welfare Act activities, an increase of %5 million above the current FY2000 estimate." HumaneUSA PAC also noted Gore's running mate, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut has a 100% rating on animal-related votes in the 106th Congress from the Humane Society of the United States. HumanUSA PAC has spent a reported $200,000 in support of political campaigns this year. WHADDA YA MEAN SIZE IS NEUTRAL Oct. 27 2000 Corner Post Elbert van Donkersgoed Bigger farms are changing our countryside. Bigger is different. Let me count the ways. Farm work has changed. Management has become sophisticated and more important than labour. Farmers need right-on-time learning as they question and change practices on an ongoing basis. The decline in physical labour has not shortened the farmer's day. There's a constant need to follow markets, search for production information, evaluate existing practices, respond to public concerns and restructure finances. When farmers leave the barn they no longer leave their work behind. Management goes with them unless they are intentional about setting it aside. Farm lifestyles are under pressure. Relations with others have become more competitive and more impersonal. A greater separation between family life and farm business is necessary but often results in spouse and children being less involved in the business. Unless families intentionally seek out activities beyond the farm, farm life risks being more isolated than in the past. Governments give less advice. For decades governments provided interpreters for the language of science to the practical possibilities on family farms. AgReps we called them. They are gone now. Today farmers are much better trained and follow much of the emerging production science without assistance. When they do accept help it is likely to be from the scores of salesmen hoping to sell them seed and feed, pesticides and drugs, computer software programs and sophisticated equipment. These salesmen are well versed in the science that makes their product an asset on the farm. New stewardship issues arise. Taller, longer and wider greenhouses block our neighbours' view of the horizon. Liquid manure sends more smell wafting into neighbours' windows. Grain driers designed to handle thousands of acres of corn run all night long. Large cattle herds in watercourses create risks of nutrients and pathogens downstream. Removing fencerows for the convenience of our big machines reduces wildlife habitat. More livestock on fewer sites risks producing more manure in a watershed than can safely be applied to land close by. Liquid manure can use the soils natural macro pores to get into tile drains and thus to streams. The "hurry factor" and the focus on the financial bottom line risk squeezing the time needed for doing stewardship. Governments regulate more. If something goes wrong or management is not up to snuff, bigger implies more risk. Bigger farms have to use the best knowledge and top techniques. More importantly they must demonstrate to the public that they do so. Best management practices can't remain voluntary options. Bigger farms means turning key BMPs into regulations for agricultural operations. Size is neutral. NOT. Bigger farms are about as neutral as farm pickups sharing the 401 with 18-wheelers. ON THE RUN WITH WOLF B36 Oct. 29 2000 N.Y. Times Magazine SARA CORBETT http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001029mag-wolf.html The war over gray wolves has, according to this story, been raging ever since they were reintroduced to the American West five years ago. The story of one wolf's perilous life captures the conflict between those who celebrate them and those who want to see them dead. The story traces the activities of B36, who chose to explore. For nearly two years, she crisscrossed 10,000-foot mountain ranges and raced up and down the 90-mile Middle Fork of the Salmon River, blithely barging in and out of other wolves' territories, leaving a thoroughly perplexed team of government biologists in her wake. And as others died‹as B26 starved to death and B4 got eaten by a mountain lion and B13 turned up shot through the stomach on somebody's ranch‹B36 thrived. When she finally settled down, she did it with an overachiever's zeal, finding a mate who was even bigger and whiter than herself and, more unusually, one believed to be a rare native wolf a genuine American male. The wolf also had a ring of scar tissue circling his right front leg and a visible limp, suggesting that at one point he'd escaped a snare or leg trap. In the spring of 1998, guided by signals from the radio transmitter B36 wore around her neck, a biologist hiked deep into the back country and discovered B36 and the Old Man high up on a ridge, looking after the largest litter of pups born to a reintroduced wolf in Idaho, nine yipping youngsters who would form the core of their pack. The story says that the Northern Rockies wolf-recovery effort qualifies as one of the Endangered Species Act's greatest success stories. In five years, the original group of 66 gray wolves has multiplied to as many as 500, while an estimated 3,000 more currently roam the northern parts of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. The story goes on to say that the wolves didn't know, however, that an invisible line ran through their fertile diamond of wilderness, marking not only the border between Custer County to the north and Blaine County to the south, but also between two sides of an ideological turf war. It's a conflict familiar enough to any frontier-type town with a pretty view and a decent airport, but one that gets fought with particular vehemence in Idaho: the old Westerners versus the new Westerners, the right-leaning ag folks versus the left-leaning, mountain-biking invaders, the ranchers versus the environmentalists. The cow people, in other words, versus the wolf people. And so when B36 and her pack came down out of the hills and ate two Custer County calves at the end of March this year, things got bad quickly. To the ranchers who run mostly modest, family-owned outfits along the Salmon River, wolf reintroduction had grown too successful, and Idaho's wolves‹now more than 190 of them‹became a predatory nuisance, a threat to an already hardscrabble way of life. Suddenly, it seemed, there were wolf tracks everywhere, next to barns and next to pickup trucks, looping right through herds of wandering cows. When two more chewed-up calves surfaced, a hand-lettered sign went up in the front window of a small Clayton store: kill all the goddamn wolves and the people who brought them here. Meanwhile, the citizens down in Blaine County‹ routinely referred to as "bunny huggers" and "trust-funders" by their neighbors in Custer‹ started fretting that their beloved wolves would end up dead at the hands of a vigilante rancher. But then the government stepped in. In an effort to keep the peace, a crew of biologists and Fish and Wildlife officials arrived in the White Cloud wolves' territory along the East Fork of the Salmon River on a crisp morning in early April, storing a number of steel cages in a rancher's barn and then heading off in a helicopter to look for the errant wolves. The story says that because wolves in most of the northern Rockies are listed under a special, less stringent designation of the Endangered Species Act as a "nonessential experimental population," the government has the authority to manage wolves perceived as problematic‹either by relocating or killing them. The designation was a key concession to the livestock industry in the decadelong political struggle over wolf reintroduction, and one whose interpretation remains controversial. How many dead cows mandate killing a wolf? Normally, the government tries to find wolves new, livestock-free territory before it resorts to killing them. Since Western wolf recovery began five years ago, the government has relocated 91 wolves and killed 82 more. The story goes on to detail the problems with relocation, and the philosophical differences between ranchers and others. The story says that as 4,000-square-foot log cabins pop up on secluded mountaintops and thousands of cows ramble across public land all over the West, the line between wilderness and civilization has become increasingly scumbled. And as wolf populations escalate, as the number of mountain lions multiplies in many states and with the government moving forward in its plan to restore the grizzly bear to parts of Idaho and Montana, the boundaries appear to be more and more permeable. Anyone who has lost a flower bed to marauding deer or unwittingly sacrificed the family cat to coyotes knows the conflict in its most suburban incarnation: wild animals are bound to trespass. They simply can't be expected to know better. Or can they? The story says the government is considering several ways of conditioning wolves to avoid livestock‹from harassing them with rubber bullets to warning them off with sirens. In Montana, after one pack of wolves helped itself to a few calves outside of Yellowstone this spring, their lives were spared by none other than Ted Turner, who consequently opened up his Flying D Ranch near Bozeman for an experiment in "aversive conditioning" sponsored by several environmental groups and the Fish and Wildlife Service. There, three of the misbehaving wolves have been outfitted with electric shock collars and put in a pen with a healthy beef calf, where they now are learning, the hard way, to live side by side with cows. To some environmentalists, the contradiction here is rich. It's not the wolves who need a good-neighbor lesson, they argue, but rather the humans who should learn to live with wolves before trying to tame them. 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