AnimalNet Feb. 9/09
VIETNAM:
Villagers attack officials killing avian bird flu infected
fowl
Nine arrested
in VIETNAM for preventing chicken cull
KOREA:
Regulations on 'downer' cow slaughter tightened
WASHINGTON:
Food safety program receives emergency funding from
stakeholders, still at risk of closure
WASHINGTON:
Army suspends germ research at Maryland lab
GEORGIA: '07
deer disease outbreak worst ever recorded
PHILIPPINES:
Hog cholera hits North Cotabato; Eastern Visayas monitors
animal deaths
FLORIDA:
Futuristic seafood: Raising delicious cobia and
pompano-inland!
BRITISH
COLUMBIA: Wild, farmed fish can co-exist: Report
BRITISH
COLUMBIA: B.C. court ruling says Ottawa, not provinces,
should license fish farms
WEST
VIRGINIA: Indictments are first felony charges for abuse of
factory-farmed birds
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VIETNAM:
Villagers attack officials killing avian bird flu infected
fowl
09.feb.09
Wichita Examiner
Trina Hoaks
http://www.examiner.com/x-3035-Everyday-People-Examiner~y2009m2d9-Villagers-attack-officials-killing-avian-bird-flu-infected-fowl
Officials announced the second human infection of avian
influenza (bird flu) in Vietnam this year.
Meanwhile, as officials tried to eliminate approximately
1,500 infected chickens, villagers attacked them.
It was reported by the Associated Press that more than 100
villagers attacked officials as they tried to put infected
birds into a pit to kill them. The birds had reportedly been
smuggled into the area from China.
Nine arrested
in VIETNAM for preventing chicken cull
10.feb.09
Taiwan News Online
Agence France-Presse
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=861032〈=eng_news
Vietnamese police said yesterday they had arrested nine
people for trying to stop chickens being taken as part of a
cull aimed at preventing the spread of the H5N1 bird flu
virus.
The nine were arrested Saturday, a Hanoi police source said,
without elaborating.
State media said about 100 residents of the capital's Thuong
Tin district had run away with about two thirds of the 1,500
chickens that authorities were intending to cull on
Thursday.
Ten animal health and market management officials at the
site were unable to prevent members of a crowd from grabbing
the chickens and then running away, news website VietnamNet
reported.
KOREA:
Regulations on 'downer' cow slaughter tightened
09.feb.09
The Korea Times
Kim Hyun-cheol
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/02/123_39217.html
Butchering ``downer" cows in other than regulated
slaughterhouses will be banned starting next year at the
earliest, with a total ban on such sick cows under review
over the long haul.
Downer cows refer to animals that cannot walk properly,
usually due to physical injuries, bloating and other
sicknesses. Cattle in the advanced stages of mad cow disease
are also unable to walk.
The Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
said on Monday that the ban is intended to allay public
fears about beef safety. There was a report on Sunday that
police arrested several people who illegally butchered
animals that were not screened for Brucella bacteria.
The illegal slaughters took advantage of the current
regulations that allow downers to be slaughtered at farms or
ranches under veterinarians' supervision. Once this ban
kicks in, butchering will be allowed to take place in
government-regulated slaughterhouses.
WASHINGTON:
Food safety program receives emergency funding from
stakeholders, still at risk of closure
09.feb.09
American Veterinary Medical Association
http://in.sys-con.com/node/835835
WASHINGTON -- A long-running and crucial food safety program
that began shutting down due to lack of government funding
has been granted a last-minute financial stay of execution,
receiving emergency temporary funding from a consortium of
nonprofit organizations and individual taxpayers who believe
the program is too important to public health to allow to
fail.
The Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) received
a total of $17,000 in combined donations from 12 groups and
several private citizens within the animal health and food
safety sectors - a stop-gap grant intended to keep the
program from completely closing while appeals for
appropriations are made before the 111th Congress and Obama
Administration. Late last year, FARAD began cutting staff
and cannibalizing its expenses to maintain a skeleton
operation while it searched for the funding necessary for
its survival.
Members of the donor consortium, which was organized by the
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), say that
FARAD is essential to protecting the safety of America's
food supply and that its demise would have dramatic
consequences on animal and human health.
"Recent food safety scares have again highlighted how
necessary it is for us to maintain a constant vigilance in
all areas of our food supply," said Dr. W. Ron DeHaven,
Chief Executive Officer of the AVMA. "Allowing FARAD to die
would create a security breech in the safety of America's
food."
Used by veterinarians, livestock producers, and state and
federal regulatory and extension specialists to ensure that
drug, environmental and pesticide contaminants do not end up
in meat, milk and eggs, FARAD began shutting down late last
year when Congress failed to complete many of the FY 2009
appropriations bills. Within the next week or so, Congress
is expected to pass an omnibus appropriations bill to fund
the government for the rest of the year. This bill should
include funding for FARAD, which began operating in 1982.
Congress authorized long-term funding of $2.5 million
annually for FARAD in last year's Farm Bill. The USDA,
however, has not included monies for the program in its
annual budget.
Federal agencies pledged in December to provide $125,000 in
bridge funding - $75,000 from the USDA and $50,000 from the
U.S. Food & Drug Administration - to keep FARAD's doors
temporarily open. As of early February, the moneys had yet
to be received, according to FARAD administrators.
Donors providing the emergency monies emphasized that
stakeholders and nonprofit organizations can not permanently
fill the budget void. But they remain optimistic that the
new Congress and Administration will see the urgency in
saving the critical program.
"We're working with Congress right now to secure long-term
funding for FARAD," Dr. DeHaven said. "With enough citizen
support, we believe we have a chance at keeping the program
alive."
In addition to the AVMA, contributors to the $17,000 to
temporarily fund FARAD include: American Association of
Avian Pathologists, American Association of Bovine
Practitioners, American Association of Small Ruminant
Practitioners, American Dairy Goat Association, American
Sheep Industry Association, American Society of Animal
Science, International Nubian Breeders Association, National
Saanen Breeder Association, South Central Texas Dairy Goat
Club, Walstone Farm (alpine dairy goats), Dr. Joseph L.
Blair (on behalf of American Association Food Hygiene
Veterinarians), and personal contributions from AVMA staff.
More information on FARAD can be found on the AVMA's food
safety advocacy web site, www.keepourfoodsafe.org.
WASHINGTON:
Army suspends germ research at Maryland lab
09.feb.09
New York Times
Scott Shane
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/washington/10germs.html?_r=1
WASHINGTON -- Army officials have suspended most research
involving dangerous germs at the biodefense laboratory at
Fort Detrick, Md., which the F.B.I. has linked to the
anthrax attacks of 2001, after discovering that some
pathogens stored there were not listed in a laboratory
database.
The suspension, which began Friday and could last three
months, is intended to allow a complete inventory of
hazardous bacteria, viruses and toxins stored in
refrigerators, freezers and cabinets in the facility, the
Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.
The inventory was ordered by the institute’s commander, Col.
John P. Skvorak, after officials found that the database of
specimens was incomplete. In a memorandum to employees last
week, Colonel Skvorak said there was a high probability that
some germs and toxins in storage were not in the database.
Rules for keeping track of pathogens were tightened after
the 2001 anthrax letters, which killed five people. But
pressure to improve recordkeeping and security at the Army
institute intensified six months ago after the suicide of
Bruce E. Ivins, a veteran anthrax researcher, and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s announcement that
prosecutors had been preparing to charge Dr. Ivins with
making the deadly anthrax powder in his laboratory there.
GEORGIA: '07
deer disease outbreak worst ever recorded
09.feb.09
The Leaf-Chronicle
Owen Schroeder
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20090209/COLUMNISTS11/902090336
The Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the
University of Georgia reports that the outbreak of
hemorrhagic disease in the summer and fall of 2007 was the
"heaviest HD activity ever documented."
HD is a viral disease that is considered the most important
infectious disease of white-tailed deer. It is closely
related to the bluetongue virus and is spread by biting
flies.
The flies, also known as sand gnats, sand flies or
no-see-ums, are most abundant from mid-August to late
October, and they usually disappear with the first hard
freeze of the fall season.
HD occurs periodically in Tennessee and other states, but it
is not a threat to human health, although hunters are
advised to avoid consumption of obviously sick animals. The
virus is indiscriminate and infects bucks, does and fawns
alike.
The disease causes excessive hemorrhaging and deterioration
of blood vessels in the vital organs of infected animals.
Most deer that die of the disease are found near water
because they develop high fevers and seek water to cool
their bodies.
The SCWDS has been conducting HD surveys since 1980 and
noted that the extent of the 2007 outbreak was "impressive."
Nationwide, the disease was suspected or confirmed in 812
counties across 31 states, which is approximately twice the
number of counties that normally report the disease each
year.
The outbreak spanned more than 1,000 miles from the Atlantic
Coast to areas west of the Mississippi River, with extensive
white-tailed deer deaths in southeastern, mid-Atlantic and
midwestern states. In addition, HD was documented in
northern states where deer are rarely affected by the
disease.
Eleven states, including Tennessee and Kentucky, reported an
estimated deer mortality of more than 100 deer per county.
It is estimated that the disease killed more than 65,000
deer nationwide.
Tennessee and Kentucky were hit especially hard and more
than 85 percent of the counties in the two states reported
HD activity.
PHILIPPINES:
Hog cholera hits North Cotabato; Eastern Visayas monitors
animal deaths
10.feb.09
BusinessWorld Online
Romer S. Sarmiento and Sarwell Q. Meniano
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW021009/content.php?id=077
KORONADAL CITY -- A suspected hog cholera outbreak in three
North Cotabato towns has resulted in the deaths of 240 pigs
since last week, officials said yesterday.
Dr. Enrico P. Garzon, chief provincial veterinarian, has
advised owners of affected hogs to bury them since eating
infected meat may be hazardous to human health.
"The suspected hog cholera outbreak hit the towns of
Alamada, Aleosan and Midsayap," Mr. Garzon said.
Dr. John B. Pascual, Department of Agriculture (DA)
livestock division chief, said news of the hog cholera
outbreak has reached their office here and that they will
verify the report.
"We will get tissue samples and have them tested in our
laboratory. We will resort to quarantining pigs [in] North
Cotabato if we confirm that there is indeed a hog cholera
outbreak in the area," he told BusinessWorld in a separate
interview.
Hog cholera or the classical swine fever is a highly
contagious viral disease, which in acute form is
characterized by high fever, severe depression and multiple
superficial and internal hemorrhage that resulted in deaths
10 to 15 days from infection, a study showed.
FLORIDA:
Futuristic seafood: Raising delicious cobia and
pompano-inland!
09.feb.09
ARS News Service
Marcia Wood
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2009/090209.htm
Two saltwater superstars—cobia and Florida pompano—are
regarded by connoisseurs as being some of the world's best
seafood. Both cobia (pronounced COE-bee-uh) and pompano
(POM-puh-no) have firm, mostly white flesh that's perfect
for grilling, pan-frying or baking.
Now, Agricultural Research Service (ARS) agricultural
engineer Timothy J. Pfeiffer, fish nutritionist Martin A.
Riche, and fish biologist Charles R. Weirich—all based in
Ft. Pierce, Fla.—are determining how to best raise cobia and
pompano inland, hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean or
bay, in huge tanks of fresh or only slightly salty water.
The tanks are part of what's known as a "recirculating
aquaculture system," or "RAS," in which water is cleaned and
used again and again.
These systems offer the potential to reduce discharge of
everyday fish-farm effluent to as little as 3 percent—or
less—of the total amount of water used each day. Fish wastes
and unused food collected in the system could be recycled as
nutrient-rich compost.
But much more remains to be discovered about the needs of
the saltwater fish that would be reared in the tanks. And
many engineering details must be worked out. In an
experiment with 2,400 juvenile pompano, the scientists
showed that it's indeed possible to raise this oceanic
species—from juvenile to market size—in water that's only
slightly salty.
In this case, the water had a salinity of only 5 parts per
thousand, as compared to the 35 parts per thousand in most
oceans. Now the scientists want to make the system
practical, profitable, and energy efficient for all stages
of inland, low-salinity production of cobia and pompano.
Pfeiffer, Riche and Weirich work for the Arkansas-based ARS
Harry K. Dupree Stuttgart National Aquaculture Research
Center, and are stationed at Florida Atlantic University's
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Ft. Pierce.
Read more about their research in the February 2009 issue of
Agricultural Research magazine.
ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
BRITISH
COLUMBIA: Wild, farmed fish can co-exist: Report
09.feb.09
Daily News
Robert Barron
http://www.canada.com/Wild+farmed+fish+exist+Report/1269331/story.html
If "rigorously managed," salmon farming and wild salmon can
successfully coexist in the same areas, a long-anticipated
report has concluded.
The B.C. Pacific Salmon Forum, appointed by Premier Gordon
Campbell four years ago to study fish farming in the
province and come up with recommendations to deal with the
many environmental concerns raised about the industry,
submitted its report to the government on Thursday.
The report comes a day after a class-action lawsuit was
filed by the Guilford Island First Nation over the impacts
of fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago.
Ron Cantelon, B.C.'s new minister of agriculture, said "it's
significant" that the BCPSF has concluded that salmon
farming and wild salmon can coexist.
Marine biologist Alexandra Morton, a longtime opponent of
open net fish farming, said she sees a "glimmer of hope"
that impacts of fish farming on wild salmon and the
environment could be mitigated, if the industry and
government abide by the report's recommendations.
"We're not the government and all we can do is stress to the
government and the public that major changes are needed to
make the fish farming industry more environmentally friendly
and hope that our recommendations are followed," said John
Fraser, the chairman of the BCPSF, said on Thursday.
Among many concerns, critics of open-net fish farming have
long claimed the sea lice that they say proliferate in the
province's salmon farms, particularly in the Broughton
Archipelago, where 29 open-net fish farms are authorized by
the province to operate, are transferred to wild salmon as
they pass by the pens, and has caused dramatic declines in
their populations.
BRITISH
COLUMBIA: B.C. court ruling says Ottawa, not provinces,
should license fish farms
09.feb.09
Canadian Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5geEAGe8DI6hnmgNvCSg_mL6hC5ag
VANCOUVER, B.C. -- A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled that
the federal government - not the provinces - should regulate
fish farms because it has constitutional powers over the
ocean.
Justice Christopher Hinkson's ruling on Monday gives Ottawa
12 months to bring in new legislation so fish farms can be
licensed by the federal Fisheries Department.
In B.C., fish farms are currently licensed by the provincial
Agriculture Ministry. In New Brunswick, which also has a
large fish-farming industry, they're regulated by the
department of Agriculture and Aquaculture.
Biologist Alexandra Morton, one of the petitioners involved
in the case, said the decision means wild salmon now have a
chance to thrive instead of facing extinction.
But government lawyer Veronica Jackson has said concerns
about fish farms or the manner with which they are regulated
are matters of public policy, and not for the courts to
decide.
Ottawa delegated responsibility for licensing fish farms to
the provinces in the late 1980s.
WEST
VIRGINIA: Indictments are first felony charges for abuse of
factory-farmed birds
09.feb.09
PETA
http://www.peta.org/mc/NewsItem.asp?id=12623
Lewisburg, W.Va. -- A Greenbrier County grand jury has
issued 19 indictments for cruelty to animals against three
former employees of Aviagen Turkeys, Inc. The workers were
among those documented abusing and killing turkeys during a
PETA undercover investigation conducted last fall at
Aviagen's West Virginia factory farms. Eleven of the
indictments are felony charges, the first time in U.S.
history--and overdue, according to animal welfare
workers--that factory farm employees have faced felony
cruelty-to-animals charges for abusing birds. Each felony
charge is punishable by one to five years in jail and a fine
of $1,000 to $5,000. The eight misdemeanor indictments
issued are punishable by up to six months in jail, a fine of
$300 to $2,000, or both.
The indictments follow an investigation conducted by the
West Virginia State Police into acts documented by PETA. The
indicted men--Edward Eric Gwinn, Walter Lee "Pee Wee"
Hambrick, and Scott Alvin White--were investigated for acts
such as stomping on turkeys' heads, twisting turkeys' necks
in failed attempts to kill them, and repeatedly banging a
turkey's head against metal scaffolding. Gwinn was
investigated for his mimicked rape--caught on video--of a
turkey hen whom he had pinned against the floor. Additional
charges against the men are anticipated to be filed soon in
neighboring Monroe County for similar acts committed in that
jurisdiction.
PETA recently learned from a whistleblower that Aviagen
still has some abusive workers on its payroll. PETA has
notified Virginia and federal authorities of suspected
drug-related crimes and violations of labor regulations.
"This decisive action by the West Virginia State Police
sends a strong message to those who abuse animals," says
PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "If anyone at home wants
to guarantee that they won't support such cruelty, they
should leave turkey off the grocery list and try some
vegetarian recipes."
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