AnimalNet March 9/08
Fresh
outbreak of bird flu confirmed in eastern INDIA
Deadly fish
virus lurks off OREGON coast
US: Disparate
Federal rules in spotlight, critics cite mixed messages over
risk from downer cows
CALIFORNIA:
Calif. meat worker: I was following orders
LETTER:
Barbaric pageant
NEW ZEALAND:
Aucklanders swapping traffic jams for dairy sheds
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Fresh
outbreak of bird flu confirmed in eastern INDIA
09.mar.08
Associated Press
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/09/asia/AS-GEN-India-Bird-Flu.php
CALCUTTA, India -- Authorities have, according to this
story, confirmed new cases of bird flu in eastern India, a
month after they slaughtered nearly four million birds in
the same state to stem the country's worst ever outbreak of
the disease.
State workers were preparing to kill birds that may have
been infected in villages in West Bengal, officials were
cited as saying.
Roughly 900 birds have died of the deadly H5N1 strain of the
virus over the past week in two villages where bird flu was
previously confirmed, said local official Subir Bhadra. The
villages are 300 kilometers (185 miles) from the crowded
state capital of Calcutta.
Deadly fish
virus lurks off OREGON coast
09.mar.08
Statesman Journal
Henry Miller
http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/NEWS/803090337/1001
Officials in the Pacific Northwest are, according to this
story, worried that a fish virus that causes fish kills in
the Great Lakes could get here.
In a sense, it's already here and has been for quite awhile.
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, better known as VHS, has been
found in ocean fish from Coos Bay north to the Gulf of
Alaska.
The seagoing strain of the virus, which does not affect
humans, has devastated herring schools in Puget Sound near
Seattle and Prince William Sound.
And an apparently new mutated freshwater strain has done the
same in the Great Lakes, killing fish from minnows to
muskies.
"What seems to be the case is these marine strains don't
seem to come ashore very readily. And they've had plenty of
opportunity with migrating salmon," Jim Winton, the chief of
the Fish Health Section of the USGS Western Fisheries
Research Center in Seattle was quoted as saying, adding, "We
occasionally find the marine strain of VHS in a spawning
salmon, mostly coho, but it doesn't seem to have spread to
freshwater species."
Not so with Isolate IVb, the virus moving through the Great
Lakes that first showed up in 2003 in muskellunge in Lake
St. Clair.
From there it spread with recorded die-offs beginning in
2005 in Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron and Lake
Michigan.
And in May, it showed up in Lake Winnebago, the largest
inland lake in Wisconsin.
The story goes on to say that the odds of the virus arriving
intact in a frozen package of Uncle Norm's secret sturgeon
bait from the Great Lakes are theoretically and biologically
possible, but it's a long shot, officials were cited as
saying.
But there are other potential pathways that have fisheries
officials here concerned, especially because of virtually
unregulated, unmonitored commerce via the Internet.
"You don't hear it discussed much, but I can go on Google
right now and find virtually anything from someplace in the
world that somebody will ship me something that is either
dangerous or harmful, or even illegal."
Jim Gores, the invasive species coordinator for the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife, was quoted as saying.
Virus strains that wipe out host populations are themselves
almost always doomed to extinction, Paul Reno, a
just-retired professor of microbiology in the Department of
Fisheries and Wildlife at Oregon State University was cited
as saying.
But even if the lethal Great Lakes strain peters out, or
fish develop immunity, the big question for those dealing
with issues such as salmon and herring in the Pacific
Northwest and minnows and muskies in the Great Lakes fish
populations is the long-term consequences after it's done.
US: Disparate
Federal rules in spotlight, critics cite mixed messages over
risk from downer cows
09.mar.08
Washington Post
Christopher Lee
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/08/AR2008030802363.html?hpid=topnews
Although the U.S. Agriculture Department prohibits the use
of beef from "downer" cattle in federally funded school
lunches, the agency sometimes allows the meat in the general
food supply, a disparity that critics say undercuts
officials' contention that there is no food safety reason to
ban meat from all cows too sick or injured to stand.
The tougher standard also raises questions about why a major
supplier to the school lunch program was processing downers
when it was found in January to be treating them inhumanely.
Federal officials ordered recall of 143 million pounds of
beef processed by Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in Chino,
Calif. -- including 37 million pounds that had gone to
public nutrition programs. It was the largest such recall in
U.S. history. No illnesses have been tied to the meat.
Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United
States, which sent a worker undercover to videotape
mistreatment at the plant, said the disparate standards for
school lunch meat and commercial beef make no sense.
"It's grounded on hypocrisy in that we are forbidding beef
from downer cows for 30 million school children, but we're
allowing downer cows to be fed to those same kids when they
are home, as well as to 270 million other Americans," said
Pacelle, whose group favors a prohibition on all downer
meat. "It's an entirely inconsistent policy."
The USDA adopted the ban for federal food and nutrition
programs in 2000. Technical specifications for USDA
suppliers routinely include the line, "Meat from carcasses
of non-ambulatory disabled cattle will not be included in
USDA purchased ground beef products."
In contrast, regulations allow a government veterinarian to
approve for slaughter for human consumption an animal that
passed initial inspection but went down before reaching the
"knock box," if the second inspection determines that the
animal was not sick and merely had an injury such as a
broken leg.
Keith Williams, a USDA spokesman, was quoted as saying,
"There really is no inconsistency. Federal purchase
requirements exclude meat from non-ambulatory animals based
on animal welfare considerations, not food safety concerns."
He said the department adopted the requirement to ensure
good animal-handling practices in response to feedback from
school lunch operators that the welfare of the animals was
an emerging concern.
In recent years, however, the department also has cited the
no-downer policy as part of its effort to ensure food
safety. A fact sheet on mad cow disease posted on the USDA's
Web site poses the question, "Are meats used in the National
School Lunch Program safe?" It answers, in part, by noting
that USDA standards "specifically prohibit the use of meat
from downer animals."
CALIFORNIA:
Calif. meat worker: I was following orders
08.mar.08
Associated Press, USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-03-08-slaughterhouse-abuse_N.htm
ADELANTO, Calif. — A former slaughterhouse worker who was
videotaped abusing ailing cattle in a case that led to the
largest beef recall in U.S. history was cited as saying in
this story during a jailhouse interview that he was only
following orders.
Luis Sanchez was cited as saying he felt bad when he saw how
the cows were treated at Chino-based Westland/Hallmark Meat
Co., and insisted his boss taught him to use a forklift to
move so-called downer cows along the slaughter line.
"That's how I was taught. He taught me to do the work. I
didn't know it was a serious crime," Sanchez was cited as
telling the San Bernardino Sun.
Sanchez, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, was being held at
the Adelanto Detention Center on immigration charges. He was
charged with animal cruelty in the slaughterhouse case, but
he also faced charges in two unrelated drug cases.
Sanchez's ex-boss, Daniel Ugarte Navarro, 49, has pleaded
not guilty to five felony counts of animal abuse and three
misdemeanor counts of illegal movement of a non-ambulatory
animal.
The story goes on to say that Sanchez said he learned the
company was handling the cows differently than other
slaughterhouses from truck drivers who brought the animals
to the plant. He said his supervisor told the workers to use
care when federal inspectors were around.
Sanchez, who first came to the slaughterhouse about 10 years
ago, said he doesn't understand why he's in jail.
"I think it's unjust that I'm here. Where are the people in
charge?" he was quoted as telling the newspaper.
LETTER:
Barbaric pageant
08.mar.08
Washington Post
L.G. Silver
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030703026.html
Silver writes I was disgusted by the March 1 front-page
photo and the article "Fur Flies at Beauty Pageant (But It's
Not What You Think)," depicting the barbaric, inhumane,
dying cultural attraction of killing and skinning small
mammals.
The young women featured in the article -- the "beauty
pageant contestants" -- are nothing more than coldhearted
animal killers trying to preserve a piece of their heritage
that ought to be extinguished.
Muskrats live in marshes and wet environments, preferring
four to six feet of water. They live in large family groups
and have defined territories.
Let's leave them to their habitats and help educate these
small-town girls on the true meaning of talent. The ability
to catch, kill and separate an animal from its skin is no
reason to glorify someone in a nationally recognized
newspaper.
NEW ZEALAND:
Aucklanders swapping traffic jams for dairy sheds
10.mar.08
New Zealand Herald
Owen Hembry
Mark Hodder is glad to be back dairying.
Aucklanders are, according to this story, accounting for a
third of calls to DairyNZ's Go Dairy campaign aimed at
attracting people to switch careers into farming.
The six-week, $1.6 million television and press campaign
started on February 10 and after three weeks had attracted
1635 calls which qualified as genuine inquiries.
DairyNZ chief executive Tim Mackle was cited as saying at
least 250 people were actively looking for work on dairy
farms at the mid-way point. The number is expected to exceed
1000 by the campaign's end.
The campaign is a timely reminder of the increasing labour
shortages dairy farmers face, particularly down south where
there were many new conversions, he said.
The campaign is not a recruitment drive but aims to help
people understand the sector and how to look for a job,
Mackle was cited as saying.
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