AnimalNet Dec. 5/03
Danish
slaughterhouse closed over swine fever fear
4th diseased
deer found on game farm
Beefing up
sustainability
Caterer to
buy antibiotic-free chicken
OJD found in
Western Australia
Hantavirus
pulmonary syndrome - USA (New Mexico)
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Danish
slaughterhouse closed over swine fever fear
December 5, 2003
Reuters
COPENHAGEN - Gudrun Andreasen, communications manager for Danish Crown, the
world's biggest pig meat exporter, was cited as telling Reuters on Friday it had
closed one of its mid-sized slaughterhouses over fears of an outbreak of highly
contagious swine fever, adding, "We have closed down the slaughterhouse
because we have seen symptoms in one pig."
She added that preliminary test results are expected on Monday, and a final
result on Tuesday.
The story says that countries suffering from swine fever can face export
restrictions and pork production could be badly damaged. Danish Crown accounts
for 9.3 percent of the European Union's total pork production.
4th
diseased deer found on game farm
December 4, 2003
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Lee Bergquist
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec03/190397.asp
Wisconsin authorities were cited as saying Thursday that a fourth deer from a
Portage County hunting preserve has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
The deer was sampled after it was shot in a paid hunt at the game farm.
Wisconsin law requires the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer
Protection to test all farm deer and elk that are older than 16 months when they
die.
The farm's owner, Stan Hall, was cited as telling the agency that the deer was
born on the farm. Hall's farm has been under quarantine since September 2002,
when the first positive deer from a Wisconsin farm was discovered there.
Beefing
up sustainability
December 5, 2003
Australia CSIRO
Media Release 2003/216
http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=mediaRelease&id=Prpigeonhole
It will cost seven million dollars, involve 40 thousand hectares of Northern
Territory rangeland and is one of the most comprehensive studies ever undertaken
on pastoral sustainability in Australia.
Announced today, the Pigeon Hole Project is looking at boosting profits from
pastoralism without damaging the environment.
Cattle fitted with high-tech collars that contain a global positioning system
(GPS) is just one research component in the new project researching grazing
sustainability.
CSIRO's Dr Leigh Hunt says a major issue facing the pastoral industry is uneven
grazing of pasture.
"Cattle only utilise a small portion of the total amount of feed in a
paddock and this uneven grazing pressure not only reduces production dollars,
but can result in land degradation.
"At Pigeon Hole we're looking at a number of ways to increase more uniform
grazing, including changing paddock sizes and altering the number of watering
points.
"Researchers from the Northern Territory Department of Business, Industry
and Resource Development are also working with us on assessing sustainable
grazing levels", he says.
Dr Hunt says the GPS receiver and data logger will be used on cattle to better
understand their grazing activity.
Another feature of the project is that it recognises that more intensive
pastoral use could have negative impacts on biodiversity, and is looking for
ways to avoid this.
Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment senior
scientist, Dr Alaric Fisher, saysuneven or "patchy" grazing can
actually benefit wildlife as the less heavily grazed areas provide a refuge.
"Pastoral areas in northern Australia still provide important habitat for
native wildlife. But several studies have shown that some species of native
plants and animals decline or disappear as grazing pressure gets greater"
he said.
Dr Fisher saysthat his role in the Pigeon Hole Project team was to help ensure
that the new grazing strategies did not result in a loss of biodiversity.
"We're looking at the effects of different types of grazing systems on
biodiversity in the paddocks, particularly to see if there are thresholds of use
above which biodiversity loss starts to occur."
Dr Fisher is also looking at the potential value of fencing off some areas
within paddocks to act as ungrazed refuges for wildlife.
"This is a really exciting opportunity to see whether these on-farm
conservation areas can have a significant role in maintaining biodiversity on
big pastoral leases", he said.
Heytesbury Beef project manager, Dr Steve Petty, saysthe results from the Pigeon
Hole project will underpin future development in the northern beef industry.
"A huge amount of information will be gathered over the five-year study
period and this will make an invaluable contribution to a sustainable beef
industry in the north", he said.
"For the first time major industry partners, Heytesbury Beef and Meat and
Livestock Australia, are joining forces with researchers from CSIRO and the
Northern Territory Government in a commercial scale project" he says.
The Pigeon Hole Project is also supported by the Victoria River District
Conservation Association, the University of Queensland and the Tropical Savannas
CRC.
Caterer
to buy antibiotic-free chicken
December 4, 2003
Associated Press
Rachel Konrad
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Bon Appetit Management Co., which provides catering and
other food services to nearly 150 universities, corporations and entertainment
venues in 21 U.S. states, was cited as saying it plans to begin buying only
antibiotic-free chickens starting next year and would begin working with
ranchers to reduce the amount of drugs given cows and pigs, in response to
customer demand.
The story says that the price of antibiotic-free chicken is almost the same as
the price of chickens raised using drugs, which ranchers say helps keep
livestock free of disease and increases their growth rates.
Marc Zammit, director of culinary support for Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bon
Appetit, which has 10,000 employees and serves about 300,000 people daily, was
cited as saying the price of drug-free beef and pork, particularly in the
Northeast and Midwest, remains higher than meat from livestock raised on
antibiotics, adding, "If we had approached this decision strictly by the
cost impact, we wouldn't have done it. The decision had to be part of our bigger
concern of the health of the people we serve every day."
The story says that the decision comes about a month after the Food and Drug
Administration recommended a three-step process for ranchers and food service
companies to help ensure that drugs proposed for use on animals do not create
dangerous germs.
OJD
found in Western Australia
December 5, 2003
Meatingplace.com
Brendan O'Neill
http://www.meatingplace.com/DailyNews/init.asp?clickthrough=true&ID=11569
Ovine Johne's disease, a chronic, incurable bacterial disease of sheep, was
detected in Western Australia this week, but should not affect its "free
zone" status.
Victorian ministerial OJD advisory committee chairman Frank Tobin said while low
levels of infection may exist, it could take years to detect. Tobin added that
the industry should not overreact after a West Australian property was
quarantined following the discovery of several sheep suffering from OJD.
"It's very easy to lose producer support if you overreact and we shouldn't
presume this is any more than it is," he said. "It won't alter
Victoria's view of Western Australia and that is, that they have a low level of
infection. What we'll be keen to see is the follow-up and the flow-on
effects."
The WA Department of Agriculture chief veterinary officer Peter Buckman said the
outbreak in the state's central region would be investigated.
Western Australia is the only state recognized under national rules as an OJD
"free zone" and is expected to maintain that status.
Hantavirus
pulmonary syndrome - USA (New Mexico)
December 4, 2003
A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
Date: Thu 4 Dec 2003
From: H.Larry Penning
Source: Health AP, Thu 4 Dec 2003 [edited]
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20031204/ap_on_he_me/hantavirus
New Mexico: 1st Case of Hantavirus Infection Since June 2001
A 37-year-old Rio Arriba County woman hospitalized at the University of New
Mexico Hospital here has [hantavirus pulmonary syndrome], the state Department
of Health reported on Wed 4 Dec 2003. The state office of epidemiology is
conducting an environmental investigation to determine potential exposure sites.
The news brings New Mexico's total number of hantavirus cases to 60 since the
illness was discovered in the Four Corners area in 1993, the Health Department
said.
To prevent the disease, health officials recommended avoiding areas where
rodents are likely to have been present, especially indoors. "This is
especially important at this time of year, when the cold weather is causing
rodents to seek shelter and food in homes and other buildings," said Dr.
Paul Ettestad, state public health veterinarian. People contract the disease
when they breathe dust contaminated by an infected rodent's urine, feces, or
saliva. [The hantavirus contaminating rodent excreta in New Mexico and
responsible for hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is likely to be Sin Nombre virus,
and the reservoir host the deer mouse (_Peromyscus maniculatus_). - Mod.CP] The
disease cannot be spread by person-to-person contact. 38 percent of those who
contract the disease die from it.
The illness is marked by fever, headache, and muscle ache and progresses rapidly
to severe difficulty in breathing and, in some cases, death. The last hantavirus
deaths in New Mexico were in 2000. 3 of 10 cases that year were fatal. A total
of 26 people have died in New Mexico from the disease. Nationwide, 353 cases
have been confirmed with 132 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
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