KCRG, IA
http://www.kcrg.com/article.aspx?art_id=58905&cat_id=123
State Imposes More Rules to Protect Poultry
Saturday, May 17, 2003, 4:21:37 PM
(Des Moines-AP) -- Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge has announced new measures to prevent the spread of two fatal poultry diseases.
The revised rules include registration of all poultry and domestic fowl at exhibitions including county fairs and 4-H fairs. No registration has previously been required at such functions.
Judge says the effort is meant to stop the spread of Exotic Newcastle Disease and avian influenza.
The changes also require a licensed veterinarian to inspect the poultry at the fairs and similar events. Any animals that appear to have symptoms of the disease would be removed immediately.
Copyright The Associated Press
Star-Telegram, TX
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/5831210.htm
Sat, May. 10, 2003
Producers unhurt by poultry ban
By Barry Shlachter
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
A number of countries have banned the import of Texas-raised poultry
after a small flock of gamecocks in El Paso was found to have
contracted the deadly and easily spread exotic Newcastle disease.
But all of the producers that export chicken or turkey to Taiwan,
Japan, Mexico, Cuba, Poland and Canada have processing plants in
other states and simply relay the orders there.
Texas poultry is then used to fill domestic orders, minimizing the
economic effect, the companies said.
"It's not like it's a major catastrophe," said Cliff Butler, vice
chairman of Pilgrim's Pride, which has operations in Pittsburg and
other East Texas towns. "It's somewhere between an inconvenience
and a hassle."
Similarly, other top producers -- Cargill, Tyson, Sanderson -- also
are using plants in other states to handle the export orders.
Holmes Foods, the only big Texas company with no out-of-state poultry
facilities, is not affected because it doesn't export, said Phillip
Morris, president of the family-owned company.
The disease does not affect the health of humans or animals other
than birds, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission.
And if the meat is processed, some of the countries will take poultry
products from Texas anyway.
The outbreak has been confined to far West Texas, while most
large-scale poultry operations are concentrated in East Texas. Should
the disease spread, though, it could devastate the industry.
"One infected flock puts the entire commercial industry in jeopardy,
and it's an industry that pumps more than $2 billion into the state's
economy," warned Travis Cigainero, a veterinarian at Pilgrim's Pride.
Some of the foreign actions are meaningless, said Toby Moore of the
U.S. Egg and Poultry Export Council.
Although the European Union slapped a ban on fowl from Texas, Nevada,
Arizona, New Mexico and California, citing exotic Newcastle disease,
no U.S. poultry was being shipped there because the EU hasn't
permitted the import of meat cleaned with chlorine, Moore said.
Some countries, recognizing the immense size of Texas, banned only
imports from the affected area.
South Korea will buy poultry from places 6.25 miles beyond the
quarantined counties of El Paso and Hudspeth. Japan will take poultry
from areas more than 31 miles away.
Mexico, the third-biggest customer for U.S. poultry, banned raw
chicken from Texas while allowing shipments to a 12.5-mile-deep
border belt and generally permits processed poultry products, Moore
said.
The Mexican government slapped the ban on Texas chickens even though
the disease apparently originated in Mexico.
Moore said the Mexican action apparently was politically motivated,
citing a "worry that they will be swamped with imports."
"Mexico is a maze of trade roadblocks," he said.
"They can't keep U.S. poultry out because of NAFTA [the North
American Free Trade Agreement], but they're doing a lot to limit
imports."
Barry Shlachter
(817) 390-7718
bshlachter@star-telegram.com
Vero Beach Press-Journal, FL
http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/pj_edt_columnists/article/0,1651,TCP_1127_1967478,00.html
Kenric Ward: Fed up with feds: Is this any way to run a quarantine?
By Kenric Ward
Press Journal opinion page editor
May 17, 2003
As I write this on International Migratory Bird Day, I am sitting in my Vero Beach home while my bird, a colorful cockatiel named "Colonel," is cooped up in Las Vegas. The irony is as lush as Colonel's plumage.
Since January, Las Vegas has been under a U.S. Department of Agriculture quarantine for Exotic Newcastle Disease, an avian virus that attacks our feathered friends. The bug spread from California and Mexico, where birds began contracting Newcastle in large numbers.
Newcastle, which does not affect humans, cropped up on Las Vegas' east side, home to a predominantly Hispanic population. Many households, as is the custom south of the border, had started raising chickens in their back yards. Newcastle incubated in such less-than-kosher conditions.
So, in steps the USDA. Extending the Southern California quarantine, the agency adds a swath of Nevada larger than Rhode Island. This means that no bird can leave or enter the affected area; violators are subject to $25,000 federal fines and jail time.
Presumably, the Ag Department has enlisted the Air Force to order down any birds attempting to fly cross the quarantine zone on their own. Colonel, however, is stuck on the tarmac. And, in this respect, the USDA's sweeping action is tantamount to using a howitzer to shoot down a sparrow.
A house bird with no sense of direction, Colonel's world consists of his gilded cage. He's a confirmed bachelor who knows only humans, and resides miles from the nearest Newcastle case. Las Vegas oddsmakers could not calculate the infinitesimal chances of his contracting the disease.
But this matters not to the quarantine masters. Their job is to set up task forces, boss around hapless state officials and supply curt and generally unhelpful responses to phone queries. In other words, behave like bureaucrats.
For months, my wife and I have been waiting for the quarantine to lift. As our move to Vero Beach drew closer, we inquired about a molecular detection test that would give Colonel clearance to head east. We were informed that the task force which supervised such tests had been disbanded and that — not to worry — the quarantine's days were numbered.
For weeks, we were told (unofficially, of course) that Washington was ready to call the whole thing off, or at least downsize the target zone. Yet the days dragged on.
As of this writing, I've been assured that a cessation order is sitting on the desk of the secretary of agriculture. Seems she just hasn't gotten around to it. When, or if, she does, the order must then be published in the Federal Register to make it "official." That could take another couple of weeks.
Our frustration is shared by local and even some federal agents who can't understand or explain the ongoing delay. Though these individuals are on the ground and in firsthand contact with the situation, their hands are tied until the wise heads in Washington cut them loose.
Obviously, caution is important. The USDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of the food chain, and it shouldn't cut corners. We also know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Some bird enthusiasts may say we had it coming. In their view, birds should not be held captive; they should be free to fly. Cages are crypto-fascist torture.
The wonders of Pelican Island, authorized by President Theodore Roosevelt, who shot birds for sport, would seem to support that position.
Yet, in reality, a bird's life in the wild (or in a backyard chicken ranch) is no day at the beach. Domestic cockatiels enjoy lifespans of 25-plus years if they're well fed and cared for. They don't survive a fraction of that time in their native Australia, must less the asphalt jungles of Las Vegas.
But Big Brother in Washington knows best. Or so we're told.
While we continue to wait, a politically incorrect thought comes to mind: What, if anything, is the federal government doing about the people side of this Newcastle problem?
The largest percentage of the chicken seizures in Las Vegas has occurred at Latino households. Given the obvious geo-ethnic connection, wouldn't it be appropriate to bring in the Immigration and Naturalization Service to check personal pedigrees, as well?
As long as this country turns a blind eye to its borders, public-health issues will surely metastasize. Tuberculosis, once virtually wiped out, is on the rise. New strains of hepatitis are appearing. And let's not forget about SARS.
USDA folks would not comment on this subject. After all, human diseases aren't their job. And, besides, they're awfully busy.
Hope you had a good International Migratory Bird Day.
Kenric Ward is opinion page editor of the Press Journal. He can be reached at (ken.ward@scripps.com).
Redlands Daily Facts, CA
http://u.redlandsdailyfacts.com/Stories/0,1413,217~24253~1396065,00.html
Exotic visitors
'Pacific Island Summer' bringing Long Beach Aquarium patrons a close-up of tropical Pacific wildlife and culture
By Theo Douglas
Staff Writer
Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific has long had a focus in the islands of the Pacific and on their inhabitants. Its recent Lorikeet Forest exhibit, for example, featured a "touch exhibit" of the friendly, colorful parrots flying free in an aviary and landing on visitors.
But when Exotic Newcastle Disease, a highly contagious malady among birds, forced the closure of Lorikeet Forest for what will likely be most of this year, officials found themselves with an empty aviary, and a lot of quarantined but otherwise healthy birds -- creating something of a void in their South Pacific.
They acted quickly, creating "Pacific Island Summer," an in-depth, multimedia look at the wildlife of the tropical Pacific that runs Friday through Sept. 1. Included are animal exhibits, musical and dance performances, workshops, arts and crafts and a 3-D film.
"It's a great opportunity to bring in some other island residents," says Aquarium spokeswoman Cecile Fisher. "They won't be touch animals like the lorikeets, but they're definitely in close proximity to humans."
Working with area cultural groups, Aquarium folk also will present a variety of workshops on Pacific Island culture throughout the next three months. And they've redesigned the Aquarium map visitors get, turning it into an interactive guide with areas where children can collect colorful stamps of island icons like the tiki, as they visit various exhibits.
Says Fisher: "We're really trying to connect the cultural aspect of (the islands). We're doing that through the new (aquarium guide) as well as bringing island cultures into the aquarium."
Workshops on making leis, the fragrant flower necklaces that conjure up images of Hawaii; what the hula dance actually means; and konane, or Hawaiian checkers, are just a few of the ongoing workshops that visitors will see. Also on the agenda is a luau, or traditional island feast, planned for the evening of July 11, and myriad cultural performances.
"These are things that are not normally seen by mainstream audiences, but are only celebrated by the Pacific Island culture," says Corin Ramos of Ramos Bissen, a cross-cultural public relations group, which specializes in promoting Pacific Island and Asian cultures. The group worked with the Aquarium, Ramos notes, to coordinate an entire Island Summer.
"This is something (where) visitors can get beyond the hula girl image, really get into the indigenous cultures of the islands," Ramos says. "I would say this is going to be the most intensive, longest running event of its kind dedicated to the Pacific Islands."
This being an aquarium, however, the experience is grounded in areas other than luaus and native rituals found in Fiji, Tahiti or Hawaii. Lorikeet Forest has been extensively remodeled, and is now home to a plethora of animals that, in some cases, are still arriving in Long Beach from other zoos and the islands themselves.
As with any exhibit grounded in reality, it necessitates a two-pronged, good news-bad news approach that represents one of the Aquarium's most intense examinations to date of how humans affect the world we live in.
Accordingly, some of the animals on display are harmless, friendly creatures, while others are not native to the Pacific Islands, and are being made examples of here to show how humans have already changed the Islands' ecosystem.
Among the friendlies: Three rambunctious Prevost's squirrels, much like our squirrels here, albeit with different coloration. These nut eaters have black upper bodies, and red bellies, separated on each side by a white racing stripe. According to Rob Mortensen, the Aquarium's animal husbandry expert, they're fearless and smart enough to remove buttons from his walkie-talkie.
Nearby is perhaps the exhibit's most unique creature. It looks, as some have said, not unlike a rugged sort of cat-dog (the imaginary creature that's the subject of a Nickelodeon cartoon). In fact, it's a binturong, the world's only carnivore with a prehensile tail that functions like a fifth limb.
More to the point, it has a loping gait that is deceptively fast, bushy whiskers, an inquisitive nature -- and it smells like buttered popcorn.
"Again, in keeping with our theme, he can be found in Malaysia, Burma and Sumatra," Mortensen says, adding, as the creature scales him for a reward of grapes, "He can hang by that tail, and he uses it for balance in climbing."
Other highlights here include a brace of dusky pademelons (she's Foster, he's Albert), a small marsupial relative of the kangaroo.
Still adjusting to life in Long Beach -- being serenaded over the PA by versions of "Tiny Bubbles," periodically broken by foghorns -- the pademelons are more visible here than in their native New Guinea, where they are so rare as to not be an official species.
Then there are the Coconut Crabs, which hadn't yet arrived from Guam at press time, but whose reputation preceded them. These monstrous creatures can grow to 22 inches across, and are at least the size of a dinner plate. Their size, and diet, has given them their name.
"Coconut crabs don't do much, but their main feature is they can crack coconuts with their claws," Mortensen says. "They're interesting, too, because they need fresh water to hydrate, but salt water to breathe."
The not-so-friendly animals also on display at the Aquarium are here to show how man and natural predators can change the world forever.
"Island Invaders," an Aquarium exhibit that offers a counterpoint to both "AnimalVision 3-D" and "Pacific Island Summer," addresses this issue. "AnimalVision 3-D" is a film looking at the wildlife of the tropical Pacific also opening May 23 at the Aquarium (see related story on this page).
"Invaders" showcases three creatures that are having negative effects in some of the same tropical Pacific regions that are home to "Pacific Island Summer" animals like the Prevost's squirrel and the binturong.
It closely examines the roles the upside-down sea jelly, the brown tree snake and the green-and-black poison arrow frog play in the tropics. Eating other animals, wiping out entire species -- they're not the most upstanding members of the animal community there.
"Whenever you introduce a species to an area where it's non-native, you're going to have a negative impact," observes Perry Hampton, the Aquarium's director of animal husbandry. "Sometimes this can be tracked; other times, it can't."
With all this drama, and a breathtaking landscape that encompasses such island ranges as the Marshalls, the Hawaiians, the Tahitians, the Fijians along with areas of New Zealand and Southeast Asia, you'd expect the Pacific Islands to be a region of animal diversity, and the strife that comes with it. In fact, much the opposite is true, Mortensen says.
"Whereas other parts of the world have diversity, there's very little diversification there. It's very often that way when you don't have a lot of resources," Mortensen says, noting that this can translate into a relative lack of intriguing animal species.
This may be true, but it's not evidenced with the Islands Summer exhibit. Eventual plans are to bring the squirrels and the binturong out on leashes, so that visitors can meet the animals up close, while handlers discuss them.
They may be well-known in the tropical Pacific, but they're certainly new and different here.
International Herald Tribune, France
http://www.iht.com/articles/96622.html
Trade spats come home to roost for Texas farms
Simon Romero NYT
Saturday, May 17, 2003
NACOGDOCHES, Texas David Alders's business is up a gravel road behind his white, two-story farmhouse: six air-conditioned poultry houses, each filled with 25,000 squawking chickens, gorging on buckets of corn feed and sipping water from plastic nipples.
They are healthy chickens, and they provide a comfortable living for Alders, whose family has farmed on the outskirts of this blistering East Texas town since the 1830s.
Now, though, his livelihood is at risk. The detection a few weeks ago of a virulent chicken-killing virus in a few fighting cocks across the state in El Paso has prompted jittery - and some here say revenge-minded - governments from the European Union, Mexico, Russia, Japan and even Cuba to embargo imports of Texas poultry.
Never mind that no trace of the virus - exotic Newcastle disease, or END - has been found in East Texas, the state's main poultry-producing area; or that Nacogdoches, an important base of operations for large food companies like Tyson Foods Inc. and Pilgrim's Pride Corp., is closer to St. Louis, Missouri, than it is to El Paso. Geography aside, the state's poultry industry says it stands to lose about $100 million as a result of the embargoes, officials say.
"The paranoia level has gotten turned up a few notches since the poultry industry here is paying for an isolated incident many hundreds of miles away," said Alders, who grows chickens for Pilgrim's Pride. "You can understand our concern, when we send most of our dark-meat products to Mexico and Russia. We don't know what we're going to do if those markets continue to shut us out."
Consolidation in the poultry industry in recent years contributed to rising prosperity for many chicken growers. But the resulting efficiencies have fueled concern that the industry is more vulnerable to diseases like exotic Newcastle and Avian influenza, which can spread rapidly in regions producing millions of birds every month.
Poultry producers in other states, especially California, have also been affected by concern over the possible spread of exotic Newcastle, which was detected last October in Los Angeles by epidemiologists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after it spread from backyard flocks to more than 20 commercial poultry operations. Since then, the USDA has destroyed more than 3.5 million birds in California in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease.
Nonetheless, isolated cases have been detected in Nevada, Arizona and, last month, in El Paso, after an owner returned from a cockfight in southern New Mexico and his game birds became infected. The disease can kill virtually every bird in an unvaccinated flock, and vaccines are useless against some of its toughest strains.
Infected birds often suffer fits of sneezing, watery diarrhea and tremors before dying in two to 15 days. The disease is transmitted through infected birds' droppings and secretions but can also be spread by humans who come in contact with the virus. Experts do not consider the disease a risk to humans.
The last major outbreak was in California in 1971, when the government destroyed more than 11 million birds.
In Texas, farmers and industry executives have privately complained that some countries seemed quick to impose embargoes. They suggest that the moves were in retaliation for strict controls on some imports by the United States, like new tuberculosis exams for cattle coming from Mexico or tariffs on steel products from Russia.
Publicly, however, executives at large poultry producers are hesitant to criticize the embargoes, not wanting to annoy important trading partners or regulators. But the industry is not shy about warning of the consequences of the embargoes for farmers.
"We're certainly upset about this," said James Grimm, executive vice president of the Texas Poultry Federation. "All of our markets are set up for export, so this disruption in trade is causing a lot of distress."
Epidemiologists almost always react quickly to any sign of exotic Newcastle.
"END is the most virulent disease known to birds on the planet, essentially what hoof-and-mouth disease is to livestock," said Larry Hawkins, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department.
The latest outbreak in California - which is showing signs of coming under control - and the small outbreaks in Arizona, Nevada and Texas are not expected to have much of an impact on consumers in the United States, although prices for dark chicken meat could decline as export restrictions result in bigger domestic stockpiles.
Mexico and Russia are the largest importers of poultry from East Texas, where the industry is clustered around farms and processing plants east of Interstate 35.
The poultry industry employs about 15,000 people in Texas, making it a rival to the state's larger beef industry. In Nacogdoches, population 30,000, Pilgrim's Pride is the city's largest employer, with 1,800 workers. But that concentration of chicken growing carries risks.
"If you're an exotic disease like Newcastle, you just died and went to heaven," said Travis Cigainero, corporate veterinarian for Pilgrim's Pride in the United States and Mexico. "There's no doubt that the evolution of the industry has created more efficiency, but it's also made it more vulnerable to catastrophic diseases."
Ventura County Star, CA
http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/sv/article/0,1375,VCS_239_1966083,00.html
Task force swoops down on Simi family's flock
By Roberta Freeman, rfreeman@insidevc.com
May 16, 2003
Agricultural officials displayed their legal muscle this week by serving an
inspection warrant on a Simi Valley family that had previously refused to let
officials test their birds for the deadly exotic Newcastle disease.
On Monday, the exotic Newcastle task force tested the birds by taking swab
samples, which will be sent back to a laboratory for testing. Adrian Woodfork,
spokesman for the task force, said the results could take up to two weeks but
that the family would be notified about the results.
Geoffry Liggett had recently twice refused to let members of the Newcastle task
force check the family's backyard flock for the disease. Liggett said he had
received no assurances the testing would be done by a qualified veterinarian and
feared his birds would be misdiagnosed and killed unnecessarily.
Woodfork explained that members of the surveillance teams are specially trained
and veterinarians are used during the diagnosis.
Liggett said he was outraged the joint task force of the state Department of
Food and Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture entered his property
with the warrant. Liggett said a large group of sheriff's deputies and
agricultural officials intimidated his 21-year-old daughter, who was visiting
and alone at the time.
"Eight people surrounded her; they knew darn well we weren't home," Liggett
said.
Liggett, who lives on one of the large lots on Apricot Road, owns six ducks,
eight cockatiels, four lovebirds and two cockatoos. But he believes his property
is too far from the Alamo Street neighborhood that tested positive for the
disease at two locations a little more than a month ago to be in any danger.
Although the disease poses no threat to humans, aside from a possible eye
infection, exotic Newcastle disease is fatal to chickens, ducks, exotic birds
and waterfowl. The disease is highly contagious and is spread by general traffic
in and around homes and neighborhoods.
"This is overkill. I want more proof," Liggett said.
The task force, he said, should not have the right to do "anything and
everything they want."
Woodfork was sympathetic to Liggett's concerns, but said the surveillance teams
were continuing to fan out through Simi Valley neighborhoods.
"We realize this can be an emotionally taxing situation," Woodfork said. "The
task force is doing all it can to eradicate this dreadful disease and at the
same time help people understand the urgency of our program."
He said no other incidents of exotic Newcastle have been discovered in Simi
Valley since the outbreaks on March 31 and April 1, and incidents are down
throughout Southern California. He remains uncertain when the quarantine that
blankets seven counties will be lifted.
"We still have to be very careful, but we are hoping very soon to wind this
down," Woodfork said.
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/16/business/16CHIC.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5062&en=a0da42828aefd91d&ex=1053662400&partner=GOOGLE
Virus Takes a Toll on Texas Poultry
By SIMON ROMERO
ACOGDOCHES, Tex. -- David Alders's business is up a gravel road behind his
white, two-story farmhouse: six air-conditioned poultry houses, each filled with
25,000 squawking chickens -- some 150,000 chickens in all, gorging on buckets of
corn feed and sipping water from plastic nipples suspended in the air.
They are healthy chickens, and they provide a comfortable living for Mr. Alders,
a lanky 42-year-old with eight children whose family has farmed on the outskirts
of this blistering East Texas town since the 1830's.
Now, though, his livelihood is at risk. The detection some weeks ago of a
virulent, chicken-killing virus in a few fighting cocks across the state in El
Paso has prompted jittery -- and some here say revenge-minded -- governments
from the European Union, Mexico, Russia, Japan and even Cuba to embargo imports
of Texas poultry.
Never mind that no trace of the virus, exotic Newcastle disease, has been found
in East Texas, the state's main poultry producing area. Or that Nacogdoches, an
important base of operations for large food companies like Tyson Foods and
Pilgrim's Pride, is closer to St. Louis than El Paso. Geography aside, the
state's poultry industry, which ranks No. 6 in the country, says it stands to
lose about $100 million as a result of the embargoes.
"The paranoia level has gotten turned up a few notches since the poultry
industry here is paying for an isolated incident many hundreds of miles away,"
said Mr. Alders, who grows chickens for Pilgrim's Pride. "You can understand our
concern, when we send most of our dark meat products to Mexico and Russia. We
don't know what we're going to do if those markets continue to shut us out."
Consolidation in the poultry industry in recent years contributed to rising
prosperity for many chicken growers. But the resulting efficiencies have fueled
concern that the industry is more vulnerable to diseases like exotic Newcastle
and avian influenza that can spread rapidly in regions producing millions of
birds every month.
Poultry producers in other states, especially California, have also been
affected by concern over the possible spread of exotic Newcastle, which was
detected in October in Los Angeles by epidemiologists from the United States
Department of Agriculture after it moved from backyard flocks to more than 20
commercial poultry operations in the state.
Since then, the U.S.D.A. has destroyed more than 3.5 million birds in California
in an effort to prevent the spread of the disease, which is often referred to as
END. Nonetheless, isolated cases have been detected in Nevada, Arizona and,
finally last month, El Paso, after an owner returned from a cockfight in
southern New Mexico and infected his game birds. Chickens from California,
Nevada and Arizona have fallen victim to embargoes, as well.
The disease can kill virtually every bird in an unvaccinated flock, and vaccines
are useless against some of its toughest strains.
Infected birds often suffer fits of sneezing, diarrhea and muscular tremors
before dying in 2 to 15 days. The disease is transmitted through infected birds'
droppings and secretions, but can also be spread by humans who come in contact
with the virus. Experts do not consider the disease a risk to humans.
The last major outbreak was in California in 1971, when the federal government
destroyed more than 11 million birds at a cost of $56 million.
Here in Texas, farmers and industry executives have privately complained that
some countries seemed quick to impose embargoes after the recent breakout. They
suggest that the moves were in retaliation for strict controls on some imports
by the United States, like new tuberculosis exams for cattle coming from Mexico
or tariffs on steel products from Russia.
Publicly, however, executives at large poultry producers are hesitant to
criticize the embargoes, anxious not to irritate important trading partners or
regulators in places where the companies have established operations. For
example, Pilgrim's Pride, based in Pittsburg, Tex., also operates a large
processing plant in the Mexican state of Querétaro, which mainly supplies nearby
Mexico City.
But the industry is not shy about warning of the consequences of the embargoes
for farmers.
"We're certainly upset about this," said James Grimm, executive vice president
of the Texas Poultry Federation, which is based in Austin. "All of our markets
are set up for export, so this disruption in trade is causing a lot of
distress."
Epidemiologists almost always react quickly to any sign of exotic Newcastle.
According to the U.S.D.A., the virus has sometimes been spread by debeaking and
vaccination crews, truck drivers and manure haulers.
"END is the most virulent disease known to birds on the planet, essentially what
hoof-and-mouth disease is to livestock," said Larry Hawkins, a U.S.D.A.
spokesman. "It is unfortunate that those folks in East Texas are suffering. But
if there's any silver lining, it's that we haven't found any additional examples
of the disease in that area."
The latest outbreak in California -- which is showing signs of coming under
control -- and the small outbreaks in Arizona, Nevada and Texas, are not
expected to have much of an impact on consumers in the United States, although
prices for dark chicken meat could fall as export restrictions result in bigger
domestic stockpiles.
Unlike consumers in the United States, who largely favor white meat, markets
abroad are largely focused on dark meat. Mexico and Russia are the largest
importers of poultry from East Texas, where the industry is clustered around
farms and processing plants east of Interstate 35.
The poultry industry employs about 15,000 people in Texas, making it a rival to
the state's larger beef industry. In Nacogdoches, population about 30,000,
Pilgrim's Pride recently surpassed Stephen F. Austin State University as the
city's largest employer, with 1,800 employees. But that concentration of chicken
growing activity carries risks.
"If you're an exotic disease like Newcastle, you just died and went to heaven,"
said Dr. Travis Cigainero, corporate veterinarian for Pilgrim's Pride in the
United States and Mexico. "There's no doubt that the evolution of the industry
has created more efficiency, but it's also made it more vulnerable to
catastrophic diseases."
Dr. Cigainero, who was in Nacogdoches this week to accompany a group of Russian
sanitary inspectors, said poultry producers wanted to increase bio-safety
measures on poultry farms by, for example, using sterilized white cotton suits
and plastic boot sheaths. But while Mr. Alders takes such steps on his farm
here, doing so is largely up to individual contract farmers.
Moreover, Dr. Cigainero added, such measures are thought to be rare among
cultivators of fighting cocks, many of whom travel across state lines or into
Mexico for cockfights.
"One of the unfortunate features of exotic Newcastle disease is that it doesn't
discriminate among birds, whether they are poultry hens, fighting chickens or
ostriches," Dr. Cigainero said. "It's an equal-opportunity attacker."
Mexico and Russia have been limiting imports of Texas poultry since last year,
citing sanitary concerns, though some people in the American industry suspect
them of trying to protect local producers. Wall Street analysts say that the
restrictions have squeezed revenues and profits at companies like Tyson and
Pilgrim's Pride, whose chicken fetches less on glutted global markets but must
still pay growers like Mr. Alders under contracts that predate the trade
problems.
If the embargoes endure, the squeeze will reach Mr. Alders, too. And there is
not much he can do to stop it.
"The scary thing is that a poultry worker at a cockfight can get in his pickup
and transmit the virus a thousand miles away," Mr. Alders said. "If he's wearing
the same boots at his destination, then that virus can thrive."
El Paso Times, TX
http://www.borderlandnews.com/stories/borderland/20030516-113892.shtml
Ban lifted on buying birds at pet stores
Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
A ban on taking birds from pet stores to homes in El Paso County was lifted last
week, said Dr. Michael Greenlee of the exotic Newcastle disease task force.
The rule began last month when the disease, which is deadly to poultry but not
people, was detected April 10 in Socorro backyard flocks of game roosters, which
were being raised for cockfighting. The rule was lifted after inspectors
contacted stores. A quarantine preventing birds from leaving El Paso County is
still in effect, Greenlee said.
More than 2,000 birds in El Paso County were destroyed to contain the disease.
North County Times, CA
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030515/63518.html
5/15/03
Fluegge ranch is no longer infected, task force says
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer
The Fluegge Egg Ranch in Valley Center has been identified as the first of the seven local egg ranches infected with Exotic Newcastle disease to be deemed disease-free.
Owner August Fluegge said Wednesday that he has ordered that baby chickens be brought in to "repopulate" the farm in September, although it is unclear why he is waiting so long to restock his farm.
According to Adrian Woodfork, a spokesman for the task force in charge of getting rid of the disease, the farm is "good to go, in terms of if they want to restock." (It was incorrectly reported in Wednesday editions, due to an editing error, that the task force had declined to identify the ranch. It did not decline, but said that the information would be provided later.)
But, according to Fluegge, he was told by a task force official that he could not bring in new birds on June 17, when he had originally planned on restocking.
He said he was even uncertain whether he would be able to bring the birds onto the farm in September.
"I can't put chickens back on here until they say I can put them back," he said.
Woodfork said that Fluegge was not told that he had to wait until September to bring birds into the farm ---- it was Fluegge's decision. He said that Fluegge was told by a task force veterinarian, Layton Smith, that he was allowed to bring in birds as soon as the 30-day waiting period was over.
According to Woodfork, Smith then told Fluegge that there was a slight danger of reinfecting the birds if they are brought in before the "cleaning and disinfecting" is finished at a nearby commercial farm that was hit by the disease.
The other farm has not been disinfected yet because the owner of that farm is arguing with the task force over the price he is paid for the birds.
Birds from the Fluegge ranch tested positive in late February and was the fifth ranch in the county to be hit with the deadly avian virus. All 55,000 chickens there were killed.
The other local ranches to get the disease are Ramona Egg Ranch; the Armstrong Egg Ranches on Cole Grade, Lilac and Mac Tan roads in Valley Center; Foster Enterprises on Cole Grade Road in Valley Center; and the Ward Egg Ranch on Fruitvale Road in Valley Center.
Woodfork said the other ranches are "working on getting cleaned up."
He did not say when those ranches will be said to be free from Exotic Newcastle.
The task force kills all birds at an infected site and disinfects the properties.
In all, almost 500,000 birds have been killed in San Diego County, and more than 3.5 million have been killed statewide since the disease was found in a flock of backyard birds in Compton in October.
Fluegge said he has ordered 60,000 chickens at a price of about $2.35 each.
Fluegge owns a second egg ranch in Escondido, and although the birds there have not contracted the disease, he said that that farm is also suffering. According to Fluegge, the 70,000 young chickens at the Armstrong ranch on Lilac Road that were struck with Exotic Newcastle were being raised as layers for his Escondido farm.
He declined to estimate exactly how much the disease has cost him, only saying, "It's going to cost me several thousands of dollars."
"This is my livelihood," he said. "This is how I make a living. It's like being unemployed right now."
Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.
5/15/03
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030514/APN/305140992&cachetime=5
San Diego DA says chicken ranchers won't face cruelty charges
The Associated Press
After reviewing an investigation into the slaughter of more than 30,000 chickens using wood chippers, the district attorney's office reaffirmed Wednesday that the ranch owners will not face cruelty charges.
"We understand that there are those who are outraged by this means of disposal," said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis. "But we have looked at this case very closely and after thorough review, we believe the ranch owners did not do anything criminal under the law as it is written."
The case was reopened in April after the Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals asked Dumanis to reconsider a previous decision against filing cruelty charges in the Feb. 20 incident.
The owners of Escondido-based Ward Egg Farm maintain they did nothing wrong.
"I got approval for everything that I've done from the right people and I'm sticking by it," said Bill Wilgenburg, who owns the farm with his brother. "We just want (the issue) to go away."
The Wilgenburgs were not able to move the unproductive hens to a kill facility because of a quarantine stemming from the bird virus exotic Newcastle Disease. The quarantine restricts the movement of poultry in seven Southern California counties.
The ranch owners said they received permission to use the chippers from a veterinarian affiliated with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Ed Lloyd, a USDA spokesman, said the veterinarian, Gregg Cutler, is not an employee or a consultant with the department. Lloyd also said the method used to kill the chickens is not approved by the USDA.
Cutler's attorney, Michael Pancer, said his client is not employed by the USDA and did not consult the Wilgenburgs.
"What he has done, in the past, is opine about the different ways to dispose of chickens, including the wood chipper or grinder," Pancer said. "There are a large number of people who believe it's the most humane way, because it's instantaneous."
A message left Wednesday at Cutler's residence was not immediately returned.
The review of the case by prosecutors included comparison of various methods of poultry slaughter. Standard practice is to stun the chickens then slit their throats.
Ken Klippen, a spokesman for United Egg Producers, an industry trade group, said the use of a wood chipper is unacceptable and atrocious.
Animal rights advocates were also disappointed by the district attorney's decision.
"Anyone with the least bit of sympathy for animals would recognize that this is not a proper course of action," said Wayne Pacelle, an official with the Humane Society.
San Diego Union Tribune, CA
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030514-9999_1m14briefs.html
May 14, 2003
Bird disease turns up in Kern County
Exotic Newcastle disease, a fatal avian virus that has spread across Southern California, has reached Kern County.
The find was made last week near Mojave, in a flock of 127 backyard birds, said Larry Cooper, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The outbreak of exotic Newcastle, a disease that is harmless to humans, was first discovered in backyard birds in Compton, a city in Los Angeles County, in October 2002. The disease was detected in San Diego in late December and spread to seven commercial poultry farms and several backyard flocks in Ramona, Valley Center and Escondido.
Inland Valley Bulletin, CA
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~1388843,00.html
Senate OKs longer jail time for cockfighters; bill goes to Assembly
May 14, 2003
By ALAN SCHNEPF
STAFF WRITER
Cockfighters may face longer jail sentences, thanks to a bill that breezed
through the state Senate on Monday and is now headed for the Assembly.
Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, said she sponsored the bill because cockfighting
contributes to the spread of exotic Newcastle disease, which has spurred
agriculture officials to place a quarantine on birds in most of Southern
California.
The disease spreads easily from bird to bird through feces and bodily fluids,
but poses no health risk to humans.
Forcing stiff penalties on cockfighters could actually hurt the effort to fight
Newcastle, said Bucky Harless, a spokesman for the Association for the
Preservation of Gamefowl. He contends that cockers will be scared of providing
information about their birds.
"The harsher you make the punishment, the further you're driving it
underground," he said.
The law now treats cockfighting as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in
jail with a fine of up to $1,000. Soto's bill would mandate a six-month jail
sentence for a second conviction. Those convicted twice also would face a
maximum fine of up to $25,000. Spectators of cockfighting are exempt.
Harless said it's a measure that could hurt families that have a member who
fights gamefowl for a hobby. He cites the scenario of a father losing a
half-year of pay, or his job, because of the mandatory sentence. Most
cockfighters are conservatives who follow the law, except for the measure
against their hobby, Harless said.
Soto said it's no excuse for participating in what she called a "cruel and
inhumane" sport.
"That logic doesn't make any sense to me," she said. "Is it OK to break the law,
even if it's a small law?"
The original version of Soto's bill would have given prosecutors authority to
treat cockfighting as a felony. That provision was taken out when other senators
worried about cockfighters getting 25-years-to-life sentences under California's
three-strikes law.
Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, was one of two in the Senate who voted against
the measure.
"My reaction was, "We're talking about serious penalties for chickens to kill
themselves,"' Ashburn said. "When the victim is chicken, that doesn't rise to
the right level of seriousness for me."
Harless said cockfighting, which predates the birth of Christ, will survive in
the state in spite of any increased penalties. For many families, it's a
tradition handed down from generation to generation, he said.
"They can make any law they want and the sport won't go away," Harless said.
Officials at the joint federal-state task force set up to stamp out Newcastle
said they have no evidence that cockfighters are responsible for the
introduction and spread of the disease.
Communicating with gamefowl breeders is a key element to quelling the outbreak,
according to Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and
Agriculture.
Harless said the state's cockfighters have been cooperative with state and
federal officials who are trying to eradicate the disease.
San Bernardino Sun, CA
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1388896,00.html
Article Published: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 - 7:08:40 PM PST
Bill puts pressure on cockfighting
Soto hopes measure helps curb Newcastle
By ALAN SCHNEPF, Staff Writer
Cockfighters may face longer jail sentences thanks to a bill that breezed through the state Senate on Monday and is now headed for the Assembly.
Sen. Nell Soto, D-Ontario, said she sponsored the bill because cockfighting contributes to the spread of exotic Newcastle disease, which has spurred agriculture officials to place a quarantine on birds in most of Southern California.
The disease spreads easily from bird to bird through feces and bodily fluids, but poses no health risk to humans.
But putting harsher penalties on cockfighters could actually hurt the effort to fight Newcastle, said Bucky Harless, a spokesman for the Association for the Preservation of Gamefowl. He contends that 'cockers' will be afraid to give information about their birds.
"The harsher you make the punishment, the further you're driving it underground,' he said.
The law now treats cockfighting as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail with a fine of up to $1,000. Soto's bill would mandate a six-month jail sentence for a second conviction. Those convicted twice also would face maximum fines of up to $25,000. Spectators at cockfights are exempt.
Harless said the measure could hurt the families of cockfighters. He said a father could lose a half-year's pay, or his job, because of the mandatory sentencing. Most cockfighters obey the law, except for the ones against their hobby, Harless said.
Soto said that is no excuse for participating in a "cruel and inhumane' sport.
"That logic doesn't make any sense to me,' she said. "Is it OK to break the law if it's a small law?'
The original version of Soto's bill would have given prosecutors authority to treat cockfighting as a felony. That provision was taken out when other senators worried about cockfighters getting 25 years-to-life sentences under California's three-strikes law.
Sen. Roy Ashburn, R-Bakersfield, was one of two in the Senate who voted against the measure.
"My reaction was, 'We're talking about serious penalties for chickens to kill themselves,'' Ashburn said. "When the victim is a chicken, that doesn't rise to the right level of seriousness for me.'
Harless said cockfighting, which is thousands of years old, will survive in the state in spite of any increased penalties. For many families, it's a tradition handed down from generation to generation, he said.
"They can make any law they want and the sport won't go away,' Harless said.
Officials of the joint federal-state task force set up to stamp out exotic Newcastle said they have no evidence that cockfighters are responsible for the introduction and spread of the disease.
But communication with gamefowl breeders is a key element in quelling the outbreak, according to Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Harless said the state's cockfighters have been cooperative with state and federal officials who are trying to eradicate the disease.
Bakersfield Californian, CA
http://www.bakersfield.com/top/story/3095235p-3118144c.html
Virulent poultry virus discovered in Mojave
By MARYLEE SHRIDER , Californian staff writer
e-mail: mshrider@bakersfield.com
Friday May 09, 2003, 11:28:00 PM
Exotic Newcastle disease, a virulent poultry virus, has made its way
into Kern County, but state and federal agriculture officials say
there's no need for panic.
Agriculture officials destroyed 361 birds in a remote, rural area
near Mojave this week after a backyard flock was found to be
infected.
This is the first discovery of the virus outside the quarantined
zone in Southern California, but Larry Hawkins, spokesman for the
Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force, characterized the find as "a
pretty minor deal."
"It's one infected premise, a farmette type of thing, and two
adjacent premises," he said. "They're on the south side of the
Tehachapis and not connected in any way with the major portion of
Kern County."
The state will limit the quarantine to the farms on which the birds
were found, Hawkins said.
Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Orange, San
Diego and Imperial counties were placed under quarantine after the
disease, which is harmless to humans but fatal in birds, was
discovered in a backyard flock in October. More than 3 million birds
have been slaughtered since.
Bob Pruitt, owner of The Feed Works in Rosamond, said task force
officials checked all six of his backyard chickens on May 3. They
pronounced the birds disease-free before moving on to other homes in
the rural area around Backus Road between Rosamond and Mojave.
"I've been expecting it, it's traveling north," Pruitt said.
The Mojave birds, mostly roosters, chickens and ducks, were
destroyed earlier this week after a man reported several sick fowl
to the task force on April 24. Officials destroyed the man's 127
birds, as well as birds on two nearby properties. Officials are
still in Mojave, Hawkins said, to ensure there are no remaining
cases.
Ag officials said Kern County bird owners have little to fear thanks
to the farms' remote locations, but that's little consolation to egg
producer Tom Demler, owner of Demler Farms in Wasco and Delano.
Demler appeared startled by news of the Mojave find. He keeps about
2 million laying chickens at his ranches.
"We haven't had any new outbreaks anywhere in the state, and now
here it is in our own county," he said. "Until the exotic Newcastle
is completely eradicated from this state, we're all worried."
"We were happy they were getting better control -- and now this."
But Joel Brust, owner of the Indian Point Ostrich Ranch in
Tehachapi, said he isn't "overly concerned."
"There's some distance, we're in an elevated mountain range and
there is no poultry to speak of in this part of Kern County," he
said. "It's really a non-event."
His ostrich meat sales, Brust said, are brisk and school tours of
the farm will go on. He won't panic, he said, until task force
officials give him reason.
"We need to put a circle around it and assess it, but at this point
I'm not sensing there's an issue," he said. "It's business as usual
here."
- Californian correspondent Debbie Badillo contributed to this
report.
North County Times, CA
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030513/60701.html
5/13/03
Task force says one ranch is no longer infected
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer
A commercial ranch in San Diego County that the task force on Exotic Newcastle disease said had tested positive for the virus is now said to be disease-free, a spokesman there said Monday.
The ranch, which he declined to identify, can start bringing in new birds, but restrictions on the farm haven't been totally lifted, he said.
According to spokesman Adrian Woodfork, the ranch will still be under quarantine and the birds that are brought onto the property must be tested every week as long as the quarantine is in place. That, he said, could be awhile.
"There is no date set for when the quarantine will be lifted," Woodfork said.
He said that he could not release the name of the farm, and that, in fact, he did not know it. The task force had originally withheld the names of the farms as they tested positive for the disease, but changed its policy after the North County Times filed a request for the names under the Freedom of Information Act.
The farms in San Diego County that tested positive are the Ramona Egg Ranch; the Armstrong Egg ranches on Cole Grade, Lilac and Mac Tan roads in Valley Center; the Foster Egg Ranch on Cole Grade Road in Valley Center; the Fluegge Egg Ranch on Twain Way in Valley Center; and Ward Egg Ranch on Fruitvale Road in Valley Center.
Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.
5/13/03
North County Times, CA
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030511/71640.html
5/11/03
No charges in chicken chipping
San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis has concluded there is no evidence of criminal violation when thousands of live chickens were killed in a wood chipper at Ward Egg Ranch in Valley Center.
The decision, announced in a written statement Friday, upholds the initial finding by the district attorney's staff after the Feb. 20 incident.
"We understand that there are those who are outraged by this means of disposal," Dumanis' statement said. "But, we have looked at this case very closely and, after thorough review, we believe the ranch owners did not do anything criminal under the law as it is written."
Ranch owner Bill Wilgenburg declined to comment Saturday.
He had said earlier that, because of rules imposed by the federal-state task force on Exotic Newcastle disease, a veterinarian gave permission to use a mulcher on about 15,000 old hens of 40,000 chickens that weren't diseased.
After requests from the National Humane Society and other groups, the DA's office conducted additional extensive investigation. It included a review of standard animal-slaughter practices.
It cannot be proven that the method used at the egg ranch violated the standard set by the law, Dumanis said.
Riverside Press Enterprise, CA
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_NEWS_nafight13.a1573.html
Bill targets Newcastle disease
STATE: The Senate passes legislation increasing the penalty for individuals convicted of cockfighting.
05/13/2003
By JIM MILLER
SACRAMENTO BUREAU
SACRAMENTO - The state Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation Monday meant to slow the spread of exotic Newcastle disease.
The bill by Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, would increase the penalty for people convicted of cockfighting. A second offense would carry a mandatory jail sentence and a fine.
The bill now heads to the Assembly.
Some authorities contend that cockfighting, by bringing together birds from around Southern California for bloody battles, helps spread the highly contagious Newcastle virus that has led to a federal poultry quarantine on Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Ventura, San Diego, Los Angeles and Orange counties are also under quarantine.
So far, a government task force has destroyed 3.2 million chickens and more than 141,000 backyard birds that were sick or at risk of infection. The government has spent at least $101 million fighting the disease.
Many law enforcement and animal-rights groups, as well as some poultry-industry organizations, back Soto's bill. The measure, SB 732, passed 31-2.
Soto said she wrote her bill to fight Newcastle disease and to deter what she called the cruelty of cockfighting.
Officials with the state Department of Food and Agriculture have said there is no evidence that cockfighting contributes to the spread of Newcastle disease.
But Bill Mattos, president of the Modesto-based California Poultry Federation, said he is convinced there is a link between the fights and the virus.
"They are where it was spreading. A lot of things go on there in very close proximity," he said.
Under current law, people convicted twice of cockfighting face a maximum of a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, but law enforcement officials say the punishment is usually more lenient. Soto's bill would require a six-month jail sentence and fine on a second conviction.
As originally written, Soto's legislation would have made cockfighting a felony. But she changed the bill to win support from some Democrats who oppose long, expensive prison terms for cockfighting.
Reach Jim Miller at (916) 445-9973 or jmiller@pe.com
KTRE, TX
http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=1273099&nav=2FH5FkaG
05/10/03 - East Texas
Chicken Disease Threatens Commercial Poultry
Story By Wade Cameron
By now you've probably heard of SARS and how countries around the world, including the United States are taking- at times - drastic precautions to prevent it's spread. Well there's another disease spreading across America. 'Exotic Newcastle Disease' is quickly becoming a plague to the poultry industry. With cases in California, Nevada, Utah and West Texas, Newcastle has caught the attention of poultry farmers in East Texas.
"In a house holding 25,000 chickens this disease could kill 80 percent of them in four days or less," said Travis Ciganero, a veterinary expert for Pilgrim's Pride.
Those huge losses could cripple the poultry industry.
"When you talk about this being a deadly disease it's deadly to the chickens but you're also talking about it being deadly to the poultry industry and those businesses that are effected by the poultry industry. The propane companies, the banks and the list goes on and on and on," said Ciganero.
Even though the virus hasn't hit commercial chickens farms, the poultry market is feeling the effects.
"Mexico is saying they don't want our poultry and we're concerned about other countries doing the same, basically quarantining the birds. Obviously that's a big concern to the poultry industry," said Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs.
For now health and agriculture officials are telling poultry farmers to take extra precaution, hoping they can contain Newcastle soon.
Antelope Valley Press, CA
http://www.avpress.com/n/sasty5.hts
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press Saturday, May 10, 2003.
By HEATHER LAKE
Valley Press Staff Writer
MOJAVE - Exotic Newcastle Disease appears to have permeated quarantine boundaries in north Los Angeles County, crossing into Kern County with an outbreak in the Mojave area.
Agriculture officials destroyed 342 birds in the southeastern portion of Kern County after a backyard flock of game fowl was found to be infected with Newcastle disease for the first time outside a quarantined zone in Southern California.
The birds, including pheasants, roosters and chickens, were destroyed earlier this week after a man reported several sick fowl to the task force set up to fight the exotic disease, said Larry Cooper, a state Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman, on Friday.
Officials destroyed the man's 127 birds, as well as birds on two nearby properties.
Task force members refused to disclose the exact location of the properties involved.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has quarantined a small area around Mojave and Palmdale and a large portion of Littlerock since the outbreak took hold in October.
Though an update from the state agency on Friday stated the quarantines will remain in effect until the disease is eradicated from California, it also stated that 485 properties have been released from quarantine. Of the more than 1,000 quarantined properties, 22 are commercial poultry facilities.
Since discovery of the disease in October, close to 3.5 million birds in six Southern California counties have been destroyed. Outbreaks also have been confirmed in Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
While officials contend that the killing of the birds has been "humane," witnesses to some of the depopulations say otherwise and have accused the task force of arbitrary and haphazard conduct. Individuals who have attended informational meetings around the Antelope Valley have reported incidents of birds being shot out of trees, as well as misconduct by task force members and the unnecessary euthanization of household pets and other birds that did not test positive.
More than 30,000 chickens reportedly were destroyed in Southern California last month by being dumped into a wood chipper, purportedly with the permission of the USDA.
A lawsuit was filed March 25 in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of individuals and organizations against the state, its Department of Food and Agriculture, Gov. Gray Davis and the task force.
Plaintiffs attorney William H. Dailey said Friday that no hearing has been set and that he is in negotiations with the state agency. He is seeking changes in protocol that would prohibit wholesale killing of birds without proof of disease and a greater focus on public awareness.
"It's the kind of disease that if everyone pays attention and takes proper steps … it can be managed," Dailey said. "Nobody wants to fight about this, everyone is in agreement it's a horrible disease and it needs to be prevented from spreading."
Cooper said it's unknown how the birds near Mojave became infected, though the newly infected area is near a quarantined area.
"This was still on this side of the Tehachapis," he said. "That area is very close to L.A. County and some of the infestations we had there."
Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties were placed under quarantine after the disease was discovered in a backyard flock in October, but officials believe the disease hit California months earlier.
Officials don't know how the disease came into California. Cooper said there is a possibility the disease came from Mexico, which had an outbreak of the exact strain in 2000.
The exhibition of poultry is prohibited throughout California.
For information about the disease, contact the hotline at (800) 491-1899 or check out the Web site, www.cdfa.ca.gov.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Ventura County Star, CA
http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/state/article/0,1375,VCS_122_1952049,00.html
State briefs
May 10, 2003
MOJAVE
Newcastle found outside quarantine
MOJAVE -- Agriculture officials have destroyed 342 birds near here after a backyard flock of game fowl was found to be infected with Exotic Newcastle Disease for the first time outside a quarantined zone in Southern California.
The birds, including pheasants, roosters and chickens, were destroyed earlier this week after a man reported several sick fowl to a task force set up to fight the disease, Larry Cooper, a state Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman, said Friday. Cooper said it's unknown how the birds near Mojave became infected.
Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties were placed under quarantine after the disease was discovered in a backyard flock in October.
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20943~1381372,00.html
Officials destroy birds in Kern Co.
Presence of fatal disease found
By Staff and Wire Services
MOJAVE -- State and federal agricultural officials killed more than 300 chickens and other birds at three properties outside Mojave after the first discovery of exotic Newcastle disease in Kern County.
The discovery comes as agricultural officials continue to try to keep the highly contagious, fatal disease quarantined in Southern California and away from San Joaquin Valley chicken ranches.
"This was still on this side of the Tehachapis," said Larry Cooper, a state Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman. "That area is very close to L.A. County and some of the infestations we had there."
Fighting the outbreak of a disease that has the potential to wipe out California chicken and turkey farms, state and federal agricultural officials since last fall have been testing birds and destroying infected flocks around the state -- including in Littlerock, Lake Los Angeles and elsewhere in the Antelope Valley.
Exotic Newcastle disease is considered almost 100 percent fatal among chickens. The disease does not affect humans, and state agricultural officials say it does not make chicken meat or eggs unsafe to eat.
In the Mojave area, the disease was discovered in a flock of game fowl after a man reported several sick fowl to an exotic Newcastle disease task force.
Officials destroyed the man's 127 birds, as well as birds on two nearby properties. The birds included pheasants, roosters and chickens.
It's unknown how the birds near Mojave became infected, but officials noted the disease's presence in the Los Angeles County portion of the Antelope Valley. Signs at the Kern County line warn people not to bring in chickens or other birds.
Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties were placed under quarantine after the disease was discovered in a backyard flock in October in the San Gabriel Valley. More than 3 million birds have been slaughtered since then.
Officials don't know how the disease came into California. Cooper said there is a possibility the disease came from Mexico, which had an outbreak in 2000.
Orange County Register, CA
http://www.ocregister.com/community/saddleback_valley_news/050903lf_poultry.shtml
May 9, 2003
Fowl play curtailed for youth
Youth groups can't bring poultry to events because of disease fears.
By RITA FREEMAN
The News
Kayla Jones loves her chickens.
As a first-year member of the Trabuco Trailblazers, the 6-year-old was excited that she could raise her own birds and exhibit them at this year's Youth Expo at the Orange County Fairgrounds this past weekend.
She didn't get the chance.
A disease has killed more than three million birds in the state. Many people who own poultry must quarantine them.
"We were going to the fair and chickens were getting diseases and they didn't want our chickens to get the diseases like that," Jones said.
Jones is not the only member of the Trabuco Trailblazers who has been impacted by Exotic Newcastle disease, a situation that also is affecting many other 4-H clubs in Orange County.
Exotic Newcastle is a contagious virus that affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems in birds including pheasants, peacocks and chickens. Birds may die without showing any symptoms including sneezing, paralysis or drooping wings.
Flocks not receiving a vaccine can have a death rate of 100 percent.
However, the disease does not affect humans and is not a health threat in egg and poultry products.
This year's Youth Expo in Costa Mesa saw many changes. Several 4-H clubs created projects as a replacement for the live exhibits, such as posters or displays.
Under competition conditions, 4-H members spent about 10 minutes with a judge and demonstrated how comfortable the bird was with its handler. However, since many of the 4-H members could not show live birds, attendance was down from previous years.
Many first-year members participated in the event through projects and a spontaneous competition demonstrating their knowledge.
Rod Swancoat of Mission Viejo, a poultry leader for the Trailblazers, said that the 4-H members entered a written contest involving silhouettes in which the children identified the breed and anatomy of the chicken.
"The Orange County Fair is special because you get to show people what you know," said Lindsay Madden, 17 of Lake Forest. "But a lot of members, all they have is poultry and I feel bad because they don't really get to do anything."
The Orange County Fair Board canceled all poultry events in January this year including an egg-laying contest, market broilers and turkeys and showmanship for the birds.
Since the Youth Expo, many of the children who participate in poultry events will not be able to take their animals to the Orange County Fair in July.
"The kids missed out on quite a bit and they are going to miss out on the fair," Swancoat said. "The expo is a big pre-curser to the fair, in front of judges. It's more of a learning thing than an actual competition."
Many of the children who own chickens as pets try to keep them exposed to the sunlight because it is effective in combatting the disease.
"I quarantine them in my home but I try to keep them in light because I don't want them to get sick," said Raitt Finnegan, 11, of Lake Forest, who owns 12 chickens as pets. "If they do, it could mean death and I just want to be careful."
Kelsey Madden, 15, of Lake Forest, shares five chickens with her sister and said her birds are tame animals that have distinct personalities. "Daisy," a porcelain breed and the oldest of her birds, follows her like a puppy and is the leader of the group, Madden said.
"Daisy will come into the house," Madden said. "All of them have different personalities, some like to be touched while others want to have attention and liked to be petted."
Shortly after the state quarantined the poultry, many in the 91-member Trabuco Trailblazers club could not order baby chicks from a farm in Riverside. However, the ban was lifted in January and they were ordered from a certified disease-free farm in Texas.
"I was surprised when we could get the birds," Finnegan said.
Finnegan said that many first-year members participate in poultry because chickens are easier to handle and less expensive.
Later they work their way up to larger livestock such as lambs or goats.
Ordering a day-old chick costs about $2 and children can make a starter kit at home with a cardboard box and a heat lamp.
"It's a great starter project, you can have it year-round and you don't have to give up the animal," Finnegan said. "It's a good project as far as learning a skill and promoting healthy activities, great for confidence and composure."
For more information about Exotic Newcastle, call (800) 491-1899.
San Jose Mercury News, CA
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5825480.htm
Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2003
Agriculture officials find poultry disease in Kern County
Associated Press
MOJAVE, Calif. - Agriculture officials have destroyed 342 birds near here after a backyard flock of game fowl was found to be infected with Newcastle disease for the first time outside a quarantined zone in Southern California.
The birds, including pheasants, roosters and chickens, were destroyed earlier this week after a man reported several sick fowl to a task force set up to fight the exotic disease, Larry Cooper, a state Department of Food and Agriculture spokesman, said Friday.
Officials destroyed the man's 127 birds, as well as birds on two nearby properties.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has quarantined a small area around Mojave and Palmdale.
Cooper said it's unknown how the birds near Mojave became infected. The birds are in southeastern Kern County, which is near a quarantined area.
"This was still on the this side of the Tehachapis," Cooper said. "That area is very close to L.A. County and some of the infestations we had there."
Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties were placed under quarantine after the disease was discovered in a backyard flock in October. More than 3 million birds have been slaughtered since.
Officials don't know how the disease came into California. Cooper said there is a possibility the disease came from Mexico, which had an outbreak in 2000.
North County Times, CA
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030509/64159.html
Poultry disease will cost state tens of millions
North County Times
Editorial
Californians get accustomed to disasters ---- we've spent billions of dollars and passed dozens of laws to protect ourselves from earthquakes, landslides and wildfires.
Who would have thought that our next disaster would come from chickens?
But it has, and it's small comfort to the poultry farmers and egg ranchers who have lost their flocks that the economic damage from Exotic Newcastle disease may register only in the tens of millions of dollars rather than billions.
Nearly 3.5 million hens have been destroyed so far to prevent the fatal poultry disease from spreading ---- 500,000 of them in North County. One-quarter of the laying hens in Southern California have been killed ---- 12.5 percent of all the layers in California, according to Don Bell, poultry specialist emeritus at UC Davis and consultant on economic issues to the Newcastle Disease Task Force. Federal and state agencies have spent $2 million fighting the disease, and Bell estimates another $12 million in federal money has been paid to indemnify farmers who have lost their flocks.
And we've been lucky. "The fact that you've kept it from moving north of the Tehachapis, you've saved billions and billions of dollars," said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation in Modesto. "We've got a $3 billion industry, and most of it is north of the Tehachapis.
"If it did show up north of the Tehachapis, it would completely wipe out some breeding companies. There's only four major turkey breeding companies in the world, and two of them are in California."
None of the county, state and federal agencies working on this would hazard a guess about the depth of the economic damage. Bell said an average laying hen produces 37 dozen eggs over two years. So the hens already killed could have been expected to produce 1.5 billion eggs ---- 125 million dozen. Multiply that by the price of eggs in the supermarket and you'll get an idea of the havoc wrought by this avian virus.
But the disease cannot spread to humans, which unfortunately has not been the case with some flu viruses from farm animals in Asia, including, possibly, the virus responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome.
What little good news we can extract from this round against nature we owe to the work and the cooperation of the county, state and federal specialists and the research scientists in our universities who are helping our farmers get through some very tough times.
5/9/03
San Bernardino Sun, CA
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1378729,00.html
Infected bird bill passes $100 million
Newcastle task force's eradication effort shifts
By ALAN SCHNEPF, Staff Writer
Handling a bird disease outbreak can get expensive. Just ask the exotic
Newcastle Disease Task Force.
Since it formed in January after Gov. Gray Davis declared a state of emergency,
the phone bill alone has cost taxpayers about $1.3 million.
And that, of course, is just a drop in the bucket. The entire tab has topped
$100 million, but it's an investment state and federal officials say is worth
making.
By wiping out all of the infected birds, officials hope they will wipe out the
disease. There are signs the effort is succeeding. The task force has to
reimburse people for the 3.5 million birds euthanized so far at a cost of $18
million.
The most expensive payoff for a single bird: $1,825 for a rare Double Throat
Yellow Parrot, according to Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the California
Department of Food and Agriculture.
The task force, which currently employs about 1,100 people, also has to spend
cash to fly in veterinarians and other personnel to Southern California. Travel
expenses since January are nearly $5 million.
In all, the task force has spent $102 million during the last five months. Most
of the funds comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But the eradication effort appears to be working. After finding 22 infected
commercial egg ranches in Southern California over a six-month stretch, task
force officials cautiously note that six weeks have passed since an infected egg
ranch was found.
Millions of more dollars have been spent to kill the infected birds and bury
them in landfills.
But the task force will continue to spend more money. Officials have to make
sure the disease is gone before they lift a quarantine on live birds moving out
of Southern California.
"The focus of the project is now shifting from finding the infected birds to
making sure there are no more,' Cooper said.
Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, said the $102
million is money well spent.
"One hundred million is pretty cheap insurance to keep from losing billions if
it got into Northern California,' Mattos said.
If the disease spread north of the Tehachapi Mountains, it would hit chicken and
turkey farms where birds are raised for meat. The disease has already decimated
the state's egg industry, most of which operates in San Bernardino and Riverside
counties.
But the egg industry is a relatively small component of California's poultry
industry, which Mattos said generates about $3 billion a year in retail sales.
The disease poses no danger to humans, but it usually kills birds within days of
infection and spreads easily. The poultry community learned that the hard way
after a backyard chicken coop in Compton tested positive in late September or
early October.
The positive test set off alarms among agriculture officials, but it was too
late. By the end of January, more than 1,450 infected premises had been found,
in spite of heightened biosecurity measures at commercial egg ranches.
The overwhelming majority of the infections were clustered in San Bernardino,
Riverside amd Los Angeles counties. But the disease also was found in Orange,
San Diego, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Though isolated cases also were found in Arizona, Texas and Nevada, officials
put Southern California under quarantine, prohibiting people from moving birds
out of the quarantine zone.
The highly contagious nature of the disease led officials to kill not only
infected birds, but also birds living with those infected with Newcastle. A
single positive test in a flock of one million prompted the destruction of the
entire flock.
In addition, birds within one kilometer of an infected site are termed
"dangerous contacts.' By default, a dangerous contact bird is slated to be
killed. It's a policy that created a rift between the task force and bird
owners.
Earlier this year, the task force loosened the appeals process for people who
take biosecurity measures to make sure their birds are safe and don't get the
disease from a nearby infected site.
Not everyone is pleased with the task force's work, however. Larry Cooper said
some state employees who have euthanized the birds have received death threats
from distraught bird owners.
But probably the most outspoken critics are Mike and Sue Swallow of Norco. Since
shortly after the task force formed, they characterized it as a team of brutes
who find delight in killing pet birds.
The Swallows allege that task force workers snap the necks of birds and
sometimes injure birds without killing them, sometimes in front of children.
Cooper said most such stories are simply false and others are embellished.
Most bird owners have been supportive and understanding, Cooper said. Out of
more than 12,000 contacts with the public, the task force has only received
about 30 complaints, many of which were baseless, he said.
Two, however, were well-founded, Cooper said.
In one case, a task force worker accidentally left a message on the answering
machine of a family who had to have their pet birds euthanized, he said.
The worker apparently shifted his weight onto a cell phone and was oblivious
that he was making light of the family's anguish on their answering machine,
Cooper said. The indignant family complained.
Cooper said people were fired over the incident, however, and that sensitivity
training was then required for all task force workers.
And although that event happened months ago, Cooper said news reports are still
retelling the story as if it happened yesterday.
Cooper points out that the last huge outbreak of Newcastle in 1971 also was
expensive.
Officials then spent $56 million and killed 12 million birds before the disease
was eradicated. In 2003 dollars, said Cooper, that translates into about $235
million.
"I doubt we're going to reach that kind of expense,' he said.
San Bernardino Sun, CA
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1379010,00.html
Officials working to ease shipping ban
By ALAN SCHNEPF, Staff Writer
Area bird owners haven't been able to move their birds out of the region, even
to be processed, since last year because of a quarantine set up to prevent the
spread of exotic Newcastle disease.
But now that the disease isn't spreading as rapidly as it was, officials are
planning to allow live ostriches to be moved outside the Southern California
quarantine zone.
However, a heavy set of restrictions are being tied to the movement of those
birds.
Each ostrich has to test negative for the disease twice. After the tests,
farmers will be given a small window of time to move the birds out of the
quarantine area, and they can only ship the birds to specific locations.
Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture,
confirmed Thursday that state and federal agriculture officials were drafting a
plan to allow ostriches to be shipped out of the area.
The move comes after a handful of Southern California ostrich farmers complained
the quarantine was driving them to bankruptcy. Because there are no plants in
the quarantine area that process ostriches into steaks and ground meat, the
farmers couldn't turn their live birds into a salable product.
But they had to continue feeding birds that they wanted to butcher. Elena
Morris, co-owner of Morris Farms in Lake Elsinore, said she usually ships the
birds off to Madera a city outside the quarantine area when they are 14 months
old. There, the birds are turned into meat.
But now she's feeding 19-month-old birds. Every time the ostriches eat, Morris
loses more money. So far, she estimates the quarantine has cost her family about
$50,000.
Doug Osborne, owner of the OK Corral Ostrich Farm in Apple Valley, is missing a
chance to bid on a national contract with a restaurant chain. He said he
couldn't do it in good faith if he might not have the means to fulfill his end
of the deal.
Marie Koenig, an ostrich farmer in Riverside, said she had discussed euthanizing
300 birds if the situation didn't get better.
But the farmers are wary about whether the plan to process their birds will
work.
"I'm cautiously optimistic, very cautiously optimistic,' Morris said. "I'm
optimistic they're looking at this, and I think they're genuinely trying to help
us.'
But the farmers believe they might only be able to ship to one plant, which
wouldn't be able to accommodate their needs following a five-month backlog.
Osborne said he could tie up a small plant for weeks just with the birds he
needs processed.
The farmers also worry about getting stuck with a processor they haven't done
business with. Osborne said he's had surprisingly light yields when he's dealt
with some unscrupulous meat processors. He also worries about price gouging if
the birds can be shipped to only one processor.
But before the birds can be shipped, farmers have to collect test samples twice
for each bird.
"It's like a rodeo,' Morris said of obtaining samples from birds strong enough
to kick a human to death. "We've had vets come out to help us, and they won't
even go in the pen.'
Osborne said he thinks it's a half-hearted effort to help.
"They're trying to sweep this under the rug because if they didn't give us a
place, they'd be open to liability,' he said.
In the end, Morris is wondering if it will be worth it.
"If they're willing to pay me a buck a day for the birds I don't ship, I'll wait
until this quarantine is over,' Morris said.
Mountain Democrat, CA
http://www.mtdemocrat.com/display/inn_news/X0805_N.txt
May 8, 2003 -- Siblings 'steer' toward fair
By JENNIFER DRONKERS Staff writer
Brother and sister, Travis and Brittany Emery, know what's for dinner -- beef. For the past four years the two siblings have been in the business of selecting, raising and selling their Black Angus cattle.
Throughout a year the two participate in a number of shows, trying to impress judges and buyers, but currently, and most importantly, they're working toward the El Dorado County Fair.
The Emery siblings buy the steers at 6 months at around 600 pounds. By fairtime, eight months later and about $600 to $800 in grain and hay, the steers are 14 months old and hopefully weigh at least 1000 pounds. Travis, 18, and Brittany, 15, spend an hour-and-a-half each day dedicated to raise these animals to a flavorful piece of dinner.
"You know from the start that they're going to be sold. You get used to it," Travis said.
Travis and Brittany are 4-H members focusing on cattle projects as well as balancing their school schedules at Ponderosa High.
The chore of keeping cattle is more than just having a yard with sufficient acres. They have to sacrifice both sleep and after-school activities to have enough time to work with their so-called pets. They have to monitor their diet, walk, brush, wash, budget, show and eventually sell them.
"I have to hand it to my kids," said the teens' father, Craige. "They're out there in snow, rain, cold and wind."
But regardless of the daily duties, Travis and Brittany enjoy working with the animals and say it's "fun." Travis was even able to purchase a used truck with the money he made last year from his cattle sales at the annual Livestock Auction, a mainstay of the annual fair.
The county fair will attract many 4-Hers and Future Farmers of America who have also put in a good amount of work.
But the fair doesn't stop with just cattle. There are many 9- through 19-year-olds around the county working on projects for the fair. As far as animals go, there will be horses, dogs, sheep, goats and rabbits -- but there will be no poultry and emus allowed at the fair this year.
Because of a statewide ban involving the threat of the highly contagious and fatal Exotic Newcastle Disease, the students are leaving their birds at home and will show the fair judges a photo of this year's efforts, said 4-H volunteer and leader, Bob Silveria.
Instead of having their birds with them at the fair, the kids have created information projects about Exotic Newcastle Disease for the public. Silveria said, "We didn't want to leave out the kids with nothing to do."
Although Silveria's son has left for college, he and his wife still participate in 4-H functions. He said he enjoys watching the kids start at a young age and watch them grow into the upper levels as high school students.
"It's really something to get the kids out and about and working. It's a learning experience," said Silveria.
4-H members working on animal projects are obligated to attend Round-Up, a mandatory prefair affair that guides the students in perfecting their performance and animal for the real deal -- the fair. Round Up is a time for parents and friends to hang out, but more importantly it's a time for kids to get feedback with their projects.
Judges and 4-H leaders hold mini-shows and lend advice to the students on what they need to do to be more prepared for the fair. Veterinarians check the health of lambs. There's someone there to grind the hoofs of the cattle. The students and animals are also trying to acclimate to the hustle and bustle they will experience at the fair.
Early last Saturday morning, Travis and Brittany took their young steers, "Cartman" and "Damian," to the fairgrounds. Almost 40 other 4-Hers, with some FFAers, did the same with theirs.
The two weighed their steers and ended up winning first in their weight class. Brittany and "Damian" ended up going all the way, receiving Grand Champion, best in the show.
There's nothing official about Round Up shows even though there's a student judge and ribbons are given out. But at least Brittany knows she's on track and that her hard work is beginning to pay off. She has a month and half until the fair, which will be held at the county fairgrounds in Placerville for four days starting on June 12.
"It's work, but it's fun," Brittany said.
Jennifer Dronkers can be reached by e-mail at jdronkers@mtdemocrat.net
Arkansas Democrat Gazette, AR
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_Business.php?storyid=29569
Agency lifts ban on sales of fowl
BY CRISTAL CODY
Friday, May 9, 2003
A state agency rescinded a ban Thursday on flea market sales and exhibition of poultry and other birds instituted in April to contain a suspected outbreak of a deadly avian disease.
The Livestock and Poultry Commission enacted the emergency regulations April 25 in a bid to keep the state out of the path of Exotic Newcastle disease. The disease plunged California’s poultry industry into an economic crisis, and cases spread this year to Nevada, Arizona and Texas.
Arkansas’ $2.8 billion poultry industry worried the disease had struck in Oklahoma after several game birds, a specific chicken breed, died last month on a farm near Muskogee, Okla.
Once one bird is infected, the entire flock must be killed to contain the disease. State and federal officials in California have spent more than $101 million and killed 3 million chickens to curb the disease’s spread.
Federal tests confirmed Monday that Exotic Newcastle or another bird disease, avian influenza, didn’t kill the Oklahoma chickens. Officials still wait for final results to determine what sickened the flock, said Jack Carson, spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.
The Livestock and Poultry Commission voided the sales and exhibition ban in a meeting Thursday morning, but retains the right to revive it. "We’re on an unofficial state of alert," said Phil Wyrick, director of the Livestock and Poultry Commission. "In case, there’s another threat, we would reinstate it."
Some poultry sale owners were dismayed when they realized they couldn’t sell birds under the 120-day ban, but most understood it was a problem for the entire state, Wyrick said. "The good thing that came out of this is the reality it could be right on our doorstep in a very short time," he said.
The state also readied for this year’s first case of West Nile virus after tests taken again Thursday tested positive for the mosquito-borne disease. Preliminary tests taken last week on a horse in Fort Smith also were positive.
The Livestock and Poultry Commission awaits a final federal test expected to be completed today, Wyrick said, but added that the state’s tests probably are correct.
West Nile virus quickly spread last year in the southern states, killing 263 people in the United States, including five in Arkansas. The virus also killed countless birds, horses and livestock, with confirmations in 498 birds and 148 horses in Arkansas.
Health officials say less than 1 percent of people bitten by a mosquito infected with West Nile develop a serious illness.
North County Times, CA
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030508/64947.html
Task force objectives have changed
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer
Tactics and strategy are changing ever so subtly at the state-federal task force for Exotic Newcastle disease, a spokesman for the agency says.
"Rather than looking for birds that have been infected, to prove that the disease is spreading," said spokesman Larry Cooper, "we are now going to be focusing more on trying to prove that the disease is stopping, is gone." He made the statements in interviews Tuesday and Wednesday.
The task force is headed up by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Cooper said the subtle change in task force goals is the result of the decreasing number of birds being found in recent weeks to have contracted the disease.
How exactly will the change be implemented?
"We'll be doing some surveys ----- kind of like the door-to-door surveys we were doing ----- and identifying birds, taking some tests in places that we haven't had the disease confirmed," Cooper said. "We're not going to be quarantining anything. We're really looking for evidence that the virus is not there now, that the virus is not spreading."
The highly virulent avian virus spread quickly after it was found in a flock of backyard birds in Compton in October. It hit 22 commercial egg and poultry ranches in Southern California ----- seven of them in San Diego County.
The local ranches to be hit with the disease are the Ramona Egg Ranch; the Armstrong Egg ranches on Cole Grade, Lilac and Mac Tan roads; the Foster Egg Ranch on Cole Grade Road; the Fluegge Egg Ranch on Twain Way; and Ward Egg Ranch on Fruitvale Road.
No new commercial farms have tested positive since March 28, when the disease was confirmed at the Armstrong ranch on Mac Tan Road.
The disease has also been found in almost 1,000 backyard flocks. In San Diego County, the disease was found in 26 backyard flocks, and two other backyard flocks were thought to have had "dangerous contact" with infected birds, according to the task force.
A backyard flock near the Mojave Desert, bordering the Kern and Los Angeles county line, was confirmed to have Exotic Newcastle on Monday, Cooper said. He said the 121 birds on the property have already been killed, as have 73 birds at a nearby property that are said to have had "dangerous contact" with the infected flock. Cooper said a small area surrounding the infection was put under quarantine.
The action marks the first time any part of Kern County has been quarantined. Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Imperial counties have been under a federal quarantine since the outbreak began. No infections were found in Santa Barbara or Imperial counties, but task force officials say the quarantine included those counties to give a "buffer zone" around the affected areas.
The task force kills all birds at a site where the disease is found. So far, more than 3.5 million birds have been killed at a cost of more than $102 million.
Changing task force objectives is just another sign that the outbreak may be winding down. Although task force officials say it is too soon to say that the state will be disease-free soon, Cooper said called the shift a "positive indicator."
The last time California saw a widespread outbreak of Exotic Newcastle disease was 1971. During that outbreak, the government killed 12 million birds at a cost of $56 million.
Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com
5/8/03
Wichita Eagle, KS
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/business/5815949.htm
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2003
Poultry producers suffering fallout from steel trade
DAN LEWERENZ
Associated Press
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Poultry producers survived last year's bout with Avian flu. But could steel tariffs do them in?
A Russian ban on U.S. chicken imports devastated the market for dark meat, sending broiler prices down more than 20 percent in 2002, and cut off American poultry farmers' largest export market.
That has led to stockpiling of dark meat at home - which means processors need fewer new broilers from farmers.
"It's trickling down to people like us, who are definitely seeing a slowdown in the number of birds that we're growing on an annual basis," said Dan Heller, of Flintrock Farm in Lititz. "I'd say we're seeing between a 10 and 15 percent slowdown, which is directly related to our revenue. It obviously hurts."
Chicken was the top U.S. export to Russia, bringing in $600 million to $700 million per year. In February 2002, Russia imported 193 million pounds of American broilers, according to Bryan Vasseur, director of the Institute of Ranch Management at Texas Christian University.
And while Americans prefer white meat - which makes up only half of the chicken by volume - Russians prefer dark meat, which helps to balance out the market.
"Trading with Russia was very beneficial to the industry," said Greg Martin, Penn State University poultry extension agent in Lancaster County.
But in March 2002, Russia began an on-again, off-again ban on U.S. chicken, complaining of unsanitary conditions in processing plants and demanding stricter inspections of American birds.
"They were requiring inspections of individual groups of birds, and they wanted to have veterinarians from Russia come over and inspect every single one of our plants," said R. Michael Hulet, associate professor of poultry science at Penn State.
Katarina Keller, an international trade expert and assistant professor of economics at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, said the health concerns were probably a smoke screen for a policy aimed at retaliating for U.S. steel tariffs - which are expected to cost Russia $750 million in exports per year - and protecting Russia's fledgling poultry industry.
"I think that the whole thing is originating from the fact that the American chicken is kind of taking over the Russian chicken market," said Keller, adding that about 70 percent of the chicken consumed in Russia comes from the United States.
"They are kind of picking on a big issue for us because steel is a big issue for them," Keller said. "That's not officially stated, but that's the only way I can read this."
Russia lifted the ban in April 2002, and exports resumed a month later. But additional restrictions kept Russian imports to about one-sixth their previous level, Vasseur said.
Bill Robinson, who raises broilers for Kreamer Feed in Snyder County, said the Russian embargo came at a particularly bad time.
Exports already were suffering because of outbreaks of Avian flu in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina, and Exotic Newcastle Disease in California, Arizona and Nevada. On top of that, an East Coast drought resulted in higher feed prices.
"Our cost of production was higher in 2002, and the market price was lower," Robinson said. "We got a double whammy there."
Farmers - whose prices are often fixed in contracts - may have made out better than processors. Since December, Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, has closed plants in Oklahoma, Florida and Maryland.
Even though U.S. exports were back up to 153 million pounds in February 2003, Vasseur said, Tyson and other exporters have to work through a backlog of frozen meat before they can bring production back to pre-embargo levels.
"We still have that glut, or that stockpile of dark meat," Vasseur said. "We're working through it now, but we're still not up to the levels of spring of 2002."
In the meantime, some producers have been looking for other markets for their dark meat. Robinson, who processes much of his own meat, says he now sells more dark meat than white meat after marketing to area Muslim communities and to customers looking for antibiotic-free products.
"That's the key to getting through a crisis like the Russian embargo," Robinson said. "And we will never again be affected by trade issues like that."
KFOX, TX
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/2189098/detail.html
Newscastle Disease Impacts Texas Economy
Lauren Macias-Cervantes KFOX News at Nine Producer
Major export partners have embargoed Texas poultry products because of an April ninth outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease.
The disease was found in a backyard chicken flock in Socorro.
That discovery has caused ripples in the poultry industry stretching from Texas across the world to the European Union and Japan.
The Texas embargo is in place even though no other cases have been reported in the state.
Copyright 2003 by KFOXTV.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
KXTS-TV, TX
http://www.ktsm.com/news/story.ssd?c=48d5f83671674509
LOCAL NEWS
NEWSCHANNEL 9
Pet Birds for Sale Again
For almost three weeks, pet store owners have been unable to sell birds in El Paso because of the threat of a very contagious bird disease. But now those restrictions have been lifted.
Wednesday, May 07, 2003 -- When one fighting rooster in Socorro was diagnosed with Exotic Newcastle Disease last month, the state forbid the movement of any birds in the county.
For the past three weeks birds could not be sold in pet stores, but now things have changed.
State health officials have relaxed the quarantine to allow birds to be sold in pet stores and feed stores.
But the birds must be taken directly home, and they cannot be moved out of the county.
Health officials say no new infections have been found, and they feel comfortable with the movement of pet birds.
Pet store owner Jim Szostek says he lost about one thousand dollars during the quarantine.
He understands the initial need for the restrictions, but he also feels they were a little overreactive.
In addition to these restricitons that have been lifted, you will also be able to take all kinds of birds or to the vet within Dona Ana County, and on a case by case basis in El Paso County.
You're asked to call the Texas Animal Commission hotline to get a permit first. You still can't move poultry type birds within El Paso county, or in and out of the county.
State health officials hope to soon lift the quarantine completely.
WNCN-TV, NC
http://www.nbc17.com/news/2185037/detail.html
NC Agricultural Officials Concerned About Chicken Disease
At Least Three States Already Affected
POSTED: 6:58 p.m. EDT May 6, 2003
UPDATED: 7:57 a.m. EDT May 7, 2003
RALEIGH -- North Carolina officials are on alert for a virus that could wipe out the state's chicken population.
The disease, called Exotic Newcastle Disease, or END, has already hit four states and officials are working overtime to try and stop it before it reaches North Carolina.
In 1971, the disease hit California and resulted in the destruction of over 12 million chickens and cost the state more than $56 million.
Now, officials say it's back in California and has spread to Arizona, Nevada and Texas.
"It's a very serious issue. When you look at the experience that California is having... with 17,000 premises under quarantine and 3.5 million birds already de-populated," Joe Reardon, North Carolina's full-time point person assigned to END told NBC 17.
Reardon says even though North Carolina is some distance from the infected areas, it could easily be transported to the Tarheel state.
"One way is through our labor market...[which] moves across the state this time of year. The other is with vehicles that moved from the Western part of the United States. And then, the other is most obvious... in any poultry or birds that would be moving in our state from some of those quarantined areas," Reardon explained.
END does not affect humans, but it can wipe out entire flocks of chickens -- often without warning.
Poultry farming is a $2.1 billion industry in the North Carolina. In fact, the state is the No. 3 producer of chickens in the country, which is why officials are taking the threat so seriously.
Steve Vick runs the chicken farm at North Carolina State University's School of Agriculture. He says if END struck the state , the implications would be much greater than just the effect on the chicken industry.
"Once is gets into your flock it spreads fairly quickly... so it's something that you want to avoid at all costs," Vick told NBC 17. "It would severely affect jobs and the economy."
State officials are say they are even concerned about people who keep chickens as pets. They caution that it only takes one infected bird to spread the disease through the entire state's chicken population.
Anyone suspecting they may have a bird that is infected is urged to call the state Agricultural Department at (919) 733-3986.
Copyright 2003 by NBC17.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
North County Times, Ca
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030506/55302.html
Task force releases some backyard flocks
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer
The state-federal task force on Exotic Newcastle disease announced Monday that it has released several properties in North County that it had put under quarantine.
The task force quarantines all birds within 1 kilometer of an infected site, according to task force spokesman Larry Cooper. After the birds at an infected site are killed, and the property is disinfected, the task force evaluates the risk to the quarantined birds, he said.
On Friday, 292 properties in San Diego County were under quarantine.
The task force released 50 of those on Monday morning, Cooper said.
"All the others are in this undetermined territory," Cooper said.
When a property is under quarantine, the birds on that property cannot be moved.
Cooper said that he could not pinpoint the location of the quarantine properties, but the only properties to test positive for the disease were in Valley Center, Escondido and Ramona.
The first site to test positive in the county was Ramona Egg Ranch, which was hit with the disease in December. The disease then spread to six more commercial ranches. They are the Armstrong Egg ranches on Cole Grade, Lilac and Mac Tan roads; the Foster Egg Ranch on Cole Grade Road; the Fluegge Egg Ranch on Twain Way; and Ward Egg Ranch on Fruitvale Road.
No new commercial farms have tested positive since March 28, when the disease was confirmed at the Armstrong ranch on Mac Tan Road.
The disease was also found in 28 backyard flocks.
Exotic Newcastle disease, a virus that is said to affect every species of birds but is especially deadly to poultry, was first found in a flock of backyard chickens in Compton in October. Its discovery led to a federal quarantine on eight Southern California counties ---- San Diego, Riverside, Orange, Imperial, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara.
The task force asked county mental health departments in those counties to provide counseling for bird owners who have had their birds "depopulated," or killed, Cooper said. He said that the request was made in early March.
It was unclear Monday whether any bird owners have used the counseling services in San Diego County.
Cooper said that task force workers are given "sensitivity training" to help them understand the emotions that pet bird owners go through when their birds are killed.
Counseling services are also available for the task force veterinarians who have had to kill the more than 3.5 million birds in the state that either were hit with the disease or had "dangerous contact" with infected birds, Cooper said.
"They get a lot of pressure because they have to actually carry that out," Cooper said. "Their career intent was to save animals, not kill birds."
Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760) 740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.
5/6/03
Tyler Morning Telegraph
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1994&dept_id=339096&newsid=7932750&PAG=461&rfi=9
BIRD DISEASE COULD HAVE
$100M EFFECT ON POULTRY INDUSTRY
ASSOCIATED PRESS May 06, 2003
By ANITA CHANG, Associated Press Writer
The discovery of Exotic Newcastle Disease in a backyard chicken flock in El Paso has caused ripples in the poultry industry stretching from Texas across the world to the European Union and Japan.
Because of the April 9 outbreak, major export partners have embargoed Texas poultry products despite no other cases being reported in Texas. Poultry growers complain that the embargoes are illogical, since the spot where the infection was detected and the state's poultry industry are on opposite ends of the state.
"What they don't understand is that Mount Pleasant, Texas, is closer to Chicago, Illinois, than El Paso, and people don't have a concept on the size of the state," said James Grimm, executive vice president of the Texas Poultry Federation.
While Mount Pleasant is about 40 miles farther from El Paso than Chicago, Grimm's point is clear - the embargoes punish a $3 billion industry located almost exclusively east of Interstate 35 for some sick chickens in a backyard hundreds of miles away.
Mexico, Canada, and Taiwan also have embargoed Texas poultry, and experts say the effect on the industry could be as high as $100 million, Grimm said.
In 2001, poultry producers exported more than $137 million of poultry and poultry products.
"That embargo may last two-three months; it may last 6 months. It's up to our trading partners. That one flock of positive backyard birds has a real dynamic effect on the industry, even though we're 750 miles away," said Dr. Travis Cigainero, veterinarian for Pilgrim's Pride Corp. in the U.S. and Mexico.
"This directly relates to jobs. You also have to consider the trickle down effect for the thousands of Texans who support the poultry industry with goods and services, such as feed and equipment for the birds, groceries, housing, banking, schools, transportation and entertainment," Cigainero said in a Texas Animal Health Commission news release.
The last outbreak of Newcastle in the United States began in Southern California in 1971. Roughly 12 million birds died and the breeding and egg industries were crippled.
The disease is caused by a virus found in the droppings, breath and eggs of birds. An infected bird can pass the disease to another bird by being in close proximity. Newcastle can wipe out entire flocks of poultry but is harmless to humans.
The flock in El Paso became sickened after its owner attended a cockfight in New Mexico, Grimm said.
"When you go to a cockfight the potential of commingling with birds across the U.S. is very real and what you can bring back is unknown," he said.
The infected flock was destroyed, and the United States Department of Agriculture and the Texas Animal Health Commission are continuing investigations.
Poultry is the third leading agricultural commodity in the state; Texas is the 6th largest poultry producer in the country, and the industry employs about 15,000 people statewide.
The embargoes have not yet affected producers, who raise chickens on contract for large companies, called integrators, such as Tyson Foods and Pilgrim's Pride, Grimm said. The immediate effect so far is on the integrators' bottom line.
Despite Newcastle's potential for devastating an entire flock, an East Texas producer said poultry farmers have only halfheartedly taken precautions against the spread of the disease.
Exotic Newcastle Disease "was found in a flock of backyard chickens or fighting chickens, so we feel a sense of 'it's not going to happen here'," said David Alders, owner of Carrizo Creek Corp. in the Nacogdoches County town of Woden.
"That's the primary impact we should feel. What we ought to be doing - and to be honest, not doing well enough - is taking real care that our farms are not visited often or at all by people we don't know their background," Alders said.
The Newcastle virus can be carried on shoes, clothing, hair, tires - anything that comes into contact with poultry feces - so proper disinfection is important to stop the spread of the disease.
Newcastle could ruin the East Texas economy, where poultry is the biggest economic sector, and Pilgrim's Pride is the largest employer in Nacogdoches County.
"The direct effect is what we're most scared of. This part of the state would be economically devastated if END showed up in poultry here," Alders said.
Wichita Eagle, KS
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/business/5799405.htm
Posted on Tue, May. 06, 2003
Bird disease could have $100 million effect on poultry industry
ANITA CHANG
Associated Press
The Newcastle virus can be carried on shoes, clothing, hair, tires - The discovery of Exotic Newcastle Disease in a backyard chicken flock in El Paso has caused ripples in the poultry industry stretching from Texas across the world to the European Union and Japan.
Because of the April 9 outbreak, major export partners have embargoed Texas poultry products despite no other cases being reported in Texas. Poultry growers complain that the embargoes are illogical, since the spot where the infection was detected and the state's poultry industry are on opposite ends of the state.
"What they don't understand is that Mount Pleasant, Texas, is closer to Chicago, Illinois, than El Paso, and people don't have a concept on the size of the state," said James Grimm, executive vice president of the Texas Poultry Federation.
While Mount Pleasant is about 40 miles farther from El Paso than Chicago, Grimm's point is clear - the embargoes punish a $3 billion industry located almost exclusively east of Interstate 35 for some sick chickens in a backyard hundreds of miles away.
Mexico, Canada, and Taiwan also have embargoed Texas poultry, and experts say the effect on the industry could be as high as $100 million, Grimm said.
In 2001, poultry producers exported more than $137 million of poultry and poultry products.
"That embargo may last two-three months; it may last 6 months. It's up to our trading partners. That one flock of positive backyard birds has a real dynamic effect on the industry, even though we're 750 miles away," said Dr. Travis Cigainero, veterinarian for Pilgrim's Pride Corp. in the U.S. and Mexico.
"This directly relates to jobs. You also have to consider the trickle down effect for the thousands of Texans who support the poultry industry with goods and services, such as feed and equipment for the birds, groceries, housing, banking, schools, transportation and entertainment," Cigainero said in a Texas Animal Health Commission news release.
The last outbreak of Newcastle in the United States began in Southern California in 1971. Roughly 12 million birds died and the breeding and egg industries were crippled.
The disease is caused by a virus found in the droppings, breath and eggs of birds. An infected bird can pass the disease to another bird by being in close proximity. Newcastle can wipe out entire flocks of poultry but is harmless to humans.
The flock in El Paso became sickened after its owner attended a cockfight in New Mexico, Grimm said.
"When you go to a cockfight the potential of commingling with birds across the U.S. is very real and what you can bring back is unknown," he said.
The infected flock was destroyed, and the United States Department of Agriculture and the Texas Animal Health Commission are continuing investigations.
Poultry is the third leading agricultural commodity in the state; Texas is the 6th largest poultry producer in the country, and the industry employs about 15,000 people statewide.
The embargoes have not yet affected producers, who raise chickens on contract for large companies, called integrators, such as Tyson Foods and Pilgrim's Pride, Grimm said. The immediate effect so far is on the integrators' bottom line.
Despite Newcastle's potential for devastating an entire flock, an East Texas producer said poultry farmers have only halfheartedly taken precautions against the spread of the disease.
Exotic Newcastle Disease "was found in a flock of backyard chickens or fighting chickens, so we feel a sense of 'it's not going to happen here'," said David Alders, owner of Carrizo Creek Corp. in the Nacogdoches County town of Woden.
"That's the primary impact we should feel. What we ought to be doing - and to be honest, not doing well enough - is taking real care that our farms are not visited often or at all by people we don't know their background," Alders said.
anything that comes into contact with poultry feces - so proper disinfection is important to stop the spread of the disease.
Newcastle could ruin the East Texas economy, where poultry is the biggest economic sector, and Pilgrim's Pride is the largest employer in Nacogdoches County.
"The direct effect is what we're most scared of. This part of the state would be economically devastated if END showed up in poultry here," Alders said.
KTUL, OK
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0503/86217.html
From NewsChannel 8 News:
Chickens Test Avian Flu, Newcastle Free
Location: Muskogee
Posted: May 06, 2003 2:08 PM EST
URL: http://www.ktul.com/showstory.hrb?f=n&s=86217&f1=loc
The two most contagious and deadly bird viruses have been ruled out as the cause of death of a flock of chickens in Muskogee County.
The U-S Department of Agriculture says tests on the birds are negative for avian influenza and Exotic Newcastle disease.
State Department of Agriculture spokesman Jack Carson says officials are still trying to determine the cause of the bird's death.
Worries began more than a week ago when gamefowl breeder Barry Newberry found 40 of his birds dead and others sick.
Carson says Newberry's farm is still under quarantine.
Fear that that Exotic Newcastle had reached eastern Oklahoma led Arkansas officials to temporarily restrict chicken imports, transportation and public exhibition.
United Press International
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030505-050341-8763r
Texas hurt by poultry virus
Texas Agriculture Department officials noted an infection of chickens near El Paso with the exotic Newcastle disease shut down export markets for commercial chicken, egg and turkey producers across the Lone Star State.
The virus has only hit one flock in Texas, but at least 12 countries have banned the importation of poultry products from Texas or have placed strict requirements on their shipments.
Texas Animal Health Commission officials note that while the federal government reimburses owners for depopulated flocks, there are still losses because the birds also would have been used for breeding and genetic purposes. Those aspects are lost when the flocks have to be destroyed.
Press-Enterprise, CA (and several sources)
http://www.pe.com/localnews/corona/stories/PE_NEWS_ncnewcas0.ee97.html
Kill-off of flocks ruffles feathers
NEWCASTLE: The agency offers grief therapy to families and sensitivity training to field workers.
05/05/2003
By PAIGE AUSTIN
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Joe and Sheri Morris begged and threatened when Newcastle Task Force workers came to their door dressed in white biosecurity suits, boots and hats.
Accompanied by an army of trucks and several Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, the workers started to kill off the Morrises' flock of 220 birds: chickens, peacocks, Egyptian geese and Hawaiian nene.
The Morrises screamed. Finally, they cried.
What followed was a traumatizing and humiliating nightmare that prompted the task force to change the way it handles the killing off of backyard flocks to control the spread of a deadly avian disease in California.
The agency now offers grief therapy to families and stress counseling and sensitivity training to all field workers. It applied this month for federal funding to hire an ombudsman to mediate between the task force and residents.
Carrie Rosema/The Press-Enterprise
Susan Swallow holds one of her geese in her Norco back yard.
And all task force workers have been ordered to go through sensitivity training.
The Morrises are like nearly 2,400 other pet bird owners in the state whose birds have been killed by the task force. Most have been in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. But the couple's loss was compounded one morning when they woke to find mocking voices of task force workers on their answering machine.
The day after task force workers cleaned up the Morris property in Palmdale, one worker's cell phone was jostled so that it accidentally dialed the Morrises' telephone. The answering machine clicked on and recorded banter among some task force workers.
"Maybe if he stopped crying long enough, he could wash his hair," one worker quipped.
Joe and Sherri Morris believe their tears were the butt of the joke.
A thankless job
The last time Newcastle disease took root in the United States, 12 million birds died and the breeding and egg industries were crippled. The 1971 outbreak cost taxpayers an estimated $56 million.
When a second outbreak was reported in October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began calling in 1,700 workers from around the country in hopes of controlling the disease before it spread. So far in the second outbreak, about 140,000 pet birds and 3 million commercial birds have been killed by the task force.
USDA employees work rotations of three weeks on the task force and 12 days back home. Their task: to identify and kill infected birds and those that can spread the virus.
It's a job that pushes workers to the emotional breaking point, said Kimberly Kessenich, a Wisconsin-based veterinarian with the USDA.
"I get teary-eyed. I didn't go to vet school to kill things, and I don't enjoy it," she said.
Kessenich had to leave her husband and her own pet birds at home to supervise backyard depopulations -- the term used for killing birds primarily by gassing them with carbon dioxide, and in some cases, shooting them or snapping their necks.
It's never easy to kill someone's family pet, said Kessnich. "I know it's traumatizing to them."
While most people are cooperative with the task force, it's the confrontational ones that wear at the workers' morale, Shere said.
Every day, distraught bird owners threaten and curse at task force workers he said. Some have been threatened at gun point and others have received death threats.
"We get the reputation as storm troopers who kick down doors and kill birds," said Shere. But task force workers are just doing their best to save as many birds as possible from a ravaging disease, he said.
"It's a tremendous stress. Their families are back home falling apart while they're out here. California Department of Food and Agriculture (workers) are working 16 hours a day and getting paid for eight."
Task force workers are supposed to receive some training to help them deal with hysterical pet owners, but with so many people rotating on and off the job, some fall through the cracks, Shere said.
Changes
There is no excuse for insensitivity on the task force, said Shere, who spent hours with the Morrises investigating the telephone call. Because of that case, the task force arranged free grief counseling to traumatized pet owners and stress counseling to overworked task force members to help them cope appropriately with the demands of the job, he said.
Susan and Mike Swallow of Norco have been working full-time to save healthy pets from being killed unnecessarily, ever since task force workers quarantined their flock of 40 birds in January.
"We're just concerned citizens trying to save our own pets and by extension everybody else's," said Susan Swallow. "They're ripping people's hearts out, and they don't have to."
The Swallows began organizing residents to oppose task force policies. They met with animal rights groups and gathered testimonials from pet owners at Newcastle town halls, they posted their phone number on fliers at feed stores and they began confronting task force members with cameras at the homes of uncooperative pet owners.
The camera tells aggressive task force workers they can't get away with bullying or lying to scared pet owners, Mike Swallow said.
However, task force officials say the Swallows go to far.
"They're bullying our task force," Shere said. Workers facing death threats should not have to worry about their pictures going out for anyone to see, he said.
In February, the task force changed its policy to allow pet owners to try to save their pets from "depopulation." Birds tested clean and housed securely with little risk of infection would be spared.
The Swallows have begun working with task force officials from the California Department of Food and Agriculture to connect frantic bird owners with task force leaders before workers kill the pet birds.
"We are trying to do as much as we can for people, but we can't walk away from this virus," Shere said. "It could spread like wildfire."
Reach Paige Austin at (909) 893-2106 or paustin@pe.com
United Press International
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030501-033400-3530r
TOOLS HELP CONTAIN NEWCASTLE DISEASE
Newly developed rapid diagnostic assays to detect exotic Newcastle disease have helped contain the poultry disease, officials said. Alex Ardans, director of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, says at the time of the outbreak of exotic Newcastle disease last October in California, available assays to identify the disease required six to 12 days. A key signature that allows identification of the virus within four hours of receiving the sample was facilitated by a genomic approach developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The tests are being used to assist state and federal exotic Newcastle disease task force personnel in disease detection and control efforts.
AgWeb
http://www.agweb.com/news_show_news_article.asp?file=AgNewsArticle_200355813_1812&articleid=97479&newscat=GN
5/5/2003
One-Strike Penalizes Texas Chicken, Egg Industry
by Julianne Johnston
When chickens in El Paso got sick with Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) in early April, Texas commercial chicken, egg and turkey producers hundreds of miles away in East Texas saw export markets shut down nearly overnight, says the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Although this foreign bird virus has been confined (up to now) to only one small backyard flock, which has been depopulated, at least a dozen countries, including Mexico, either have banned the importation of Texas poultry, eggs or poultry meat, or have placed stringent requirements on products. Even some U.S. states are requiring county-of-origin documentation to prove Texas poultry and products didn't come from the El Paso area.
"For the pet bird owner or backyard producer, END infection in a flock is devastating, emotionally and financially. Although the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reimburses owners for depopulated flocks, companionship, breeding and genetics are lost," said Dr. Max Coats, deputy director for animal health programs at the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), the state's livestock and poultry health regulatory agency. "It's very stressful for folks who live in areas quarantined because of END. Pet birds can't be moved until special provisions are made, and teams of regulatory veterinarians and animal health inspectors must make surveys and conduct testing to ensure no diseased birds or poultry have been missed."
"For the commercial chicken, turkey or egg producer, END has financially devastating consequences, even when the disease strikes hundreds of miles away. In Texas, END was detected in far West Texas, but it impacted the commercial poultry industry, most of which is congregated in East Texas," explained Dr. Travis Cigainero, veterinarian for Pilgrim's Pride Corporation in Texas. "One case of END in a state, and the commercial poultry and egg industry loses many of its international marketing opportunities until the state regains its disease-free status. In the meantime, we have to find alternative marketing solutions, or reduce production in order to survive and maintain jobs for employees until export markets are reopened. One infected flock puts the entire commercial poultry industry in jeopardy, and it's an industry that pumps more than $2 billion into the state's economy."
Since April 10, five Texas and New Mexico Counties have been under state or federal quarantines issued by the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC), New Mexico Livestock Board and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), due to the disease outbreak.
Counties from which birds can not move
include El Paso and Hudspeth Counties in Texas, and Otero, Luna and Dona Anna Counties in New Mexico. The infected flock in El Paso County--and neighboring small flocks that had 'dangerous contact' or potential disease exposure--were depopulated in early April and paid for by the USDA.
A team of veterinarians and animal health inspectors from the USDA, TAHC, and New Mexico Livestock Board are working in the five-county area to take calls about sick birds and to test many of the backyard flocks in the five-county area to ensure all END infection has been wiped out. The END Task Force is operating from an incident command center set up at the El Paso County Fire Department at 11440 North Loop in Socorro.
Dr. Cigainero reminded owners that the END virus can be carried on clothing, shoes or equipment. "Diseases don't just 'up and move' to new sites. They are usually carried from place to place by people through the movement of birds or products. The future of our food production system is in the hands of the individual farmer and animal owner," he said. "Be aware that you may be contaminated with the virus, if you've been around birds or equipment. Disinfect your shoes. Shower. Put on fresh clothing
before handling your own birds. If you have sick birds, report it to your veterinarian or the TAHC immediately, so action can be taken quickly to protect other flocks."
"When folks protect their own pet birds and backyard birds, they're also protecting the avian industry as a whole in Texas," said Dr. Coats. "The pet bird and backyard flock industry has a very important niche in the Texas economy. Bird shows, poultry as 4H projects, pet birds as companions, and exotic birds are an important part of our culture. The Texas commercial poultry industry also has a major economic impact, as more than 10,000 Texans rely on this industry for jobs."
Dr. Coats reminded producers that an END outbreak is still being fought in Southern California, which is also suffering from international trade embargoes. More than 3.5 million birds have been destroyed in California to stop the spread of disease, which has hit nearly 900 backyard flocks and 22 commercial poultry operations. Earlier this year, the disease also was detected in backyard flocks in Nevada and Arizona. These outbreaks have been eradicated and these states are awaiting quarantine release.
"Never move birds from a quarantined area to a 'clean county,'" stressed Dr. Coats. "It's foolhardy to think that we can outwit a disease like END with illegal movement of birds from an area, which may still have undetected infection. END is an extremely contagious disease, and exposed birds can become extremely ill and most affected birds will die. One case of END in a state, and will interfere with international trade for months, until the outbreak is 'cleaned up.'"
"We do not have a date for quarantine release in Texas, even though we've found no additional infection," said Dr. Coats. "We have to develop scientific proof that we have looked for and tested all possible sources of infection before the USDA and our trading partners will consider our state to be free of the disease."
Ventura County Star, CA
http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/sv/article/0,1375,VCS_239_1935090,00.html
Exotic Newcastle disease outbreaks are on the decline
By Roberta Freeman, rfreeman@insidevc.com
May 3, 2003
Outbreaks of the exotic Newcastle disease are on the decline,
officials say, and no further incidents have been reported in Simi
Valley.
"We have a lull at the moment," said Leticia Rico, a spokeswoman for
the joint task force of the state Department of Food and Agriculture
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Rico credits wide public awareness among bird owners about prevention
practices with contributing to the decline, "but we are continuing to
survey; we don't want to let our guard down."
Three homes in Simi Valley were quarantined on March 31 and April 1,
after an outbreak of the disease was discovered among a backyard
flock in a rural neighborhood on Adam Road. A total of 260 assorted
chickens, waterfowl, doves and pet birds were killed to prevent
further spread of the disease.
Rico said that since then, the task force has been widening its
surveillance around the city but issuing no further quarantines. The
last reported infections, Rico said, occurred in Riverside County at
a commercial property on March 26 and in a backyard flock on April
30.
Though the disease poses no threat to humans, aside from possible eye
infections, exotic Newcastle is fatal to chickens, ducks, exotic
birds and waterfowl. The airborne virus is highly contagious, and
since September the disease has killed more than 3.5 million birds
statewide. The virus is spread by general traffic in and around homes
and neighborhoods -- on the feet, clothes and nasal passages of
humans, on tires, in pet stores and by other pets and vermin. Poultry
exhibits are prohibited at state fairs this year to eliminate any
further risk of contamination.
Once the disease appears to be eradicated, Rico said, it will be at
least another six months before the quarantines around the state are
lifted. Test birds will be placed on quarantined properties for 30
days, and barring any other complications, as long as the test birds,
or birds within one kilometer of the test sites, do not get sick, the
quarantines will be lifted.
The outbreak has been upsetting to pet bird owners and hobby
breeders, who feared their pet birds would be needlessly killed by
the task force. But the quarantine also has affected the bottom line
for pet stores, which were asked to stop selling birds to prevent
spread of the disease or agree to a range of conditions for selling
them.
In years past, a fair segment of the business at Theresa's Country
Feed and Pets in Simi Valley was in pet birds and poultry. Co-owner
George Venti said spring has traditionally been a busy time to sell
replacements for backyard flocks such as chickens, ducks, pigeons and
turkeys. They also sold such pets as finches, parakeets, canaries and
cockatiels. After the Simi outbreak, Venti said, the store disposed
of the birds.
"It's been a hardship on us," Venti said, noting that without birds,
sale of the feed, seed, cages and other accessories begins to decline
as well.
Although some of his competitors continue to sell birds, Venti said
he did not want to risk having the store closed for months and
merchandise destroyed because of an outbreak.
George Temourian, store director at Petsmart in Simi Valley, said his
store got rid of doves, which are reported to be carriers of the
disease. He said he feels safe in continuing to carry finches and
other small pet birds.
On the bright side, Venti said, sales of hamsters and guinea pigs are
up.
Arkansas Democrat Gazette, AR
http://www.nwanews.com/adg/story_Business.php?storyid=28998
Officials seek to restrict spread of poultry illness
BY CRISTAL CODY
Saturday, May 3, 2003
FAYETTEVILLE - Members of the poultry industry, law enforcement agencies and
state government met Friday to discuss enforcement of emergency regulations to
prevent the spread of an avian disease that could cripple Arkansas' poultry
industry.
Officials still await final test results to determine whether a flock of
chickens near Muskogee, Okla., died from Exotic Newcastle disease, a contagious
disease that has wreaked havoc on the California poultry industry.
The results probably will be released Monday, said Dr. Burke Healey, state
veterinarian for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry.
The Oklahoma farm is under quarantine, and the gamecock flock of about 140 birds
has been slaughtered, he said.
Initial tests were negative for the disease, but a potential outbreak prompted
Arkansas officials to a quick response to protect the state's $2.8 billion
poultry industry.
The Arkansas Livestock & Poultry Commission passed emergency regulations last
week that ban the exhibition or sale of chickens at fairs, flea markets and farm
cooperatives and outside poultry from coming into the state without approval.
Exotic Newcastle does not affect humans, nor does it affect the quality of meat
sold in supermarkets, Phil Wyrick, director of the state Livestock & Poultry
Commission, said in response to public concerns about food safety.
About 25 people from state government, poultry companies and law enforcement
agencies in nearby counties attended the meeting Friday morning at the
Washington County Courthouse. "Our mission is to keep it out of Arkansas,"
Wyrick said.
Morril Harriman, executive vice president of The Poultry Federation, which
represents the poultry industries in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, said
poultry companies have increased biosecurity measures. "It's hard to overplay
the potential seriousness of the situation," he said at the meeting.
But it will be small business owners and farmers who are hurt by the new
regulations, Tim Schlegel, owner of the Centerton Livestock Auction in Benton
County, told officials at the meeting Friday.
The regulations are in effect for 120 days. But if the Oklahoma flock tests
positive for the disease, the Arkansas regulations will become permanent until
the disease is contained, Wyrick said.
About 1,000 birds are sold every Saturday at the Centerton auction, where
livestock and other animals also are sold, Schlegel said. "We'll have to turn
them away," he said of today's sale.
Those turned away from the auction will instead go to animal sales in Southwest
City, Mo., he said. "It's not going to stop movement unless they put a sheriff
on every corner. They'll just go underground," he said.
Washington County Sheriff Steve Whitmill said most people will comply once they'
re educated about the ban. But, he said the regulations will be difficult to
enforce, considering "most law enforcement agencies are 20 percent below in
manpower."
People don't think a "sick chicken" could "ultimately be our downfall,"
Washington County Judge Jerry Hunton said.
But the economic impact to Arkansas' $2.8 billion poultry industry would be
devastating if the disease were discovered inside the state. "We're not selling
chicken just to Fayetteville people, [but also] Russia, Japan," Wyrick said.
The virus already has swept through parts of California, Nevada, New Mexico and
Texas. State and federal officials have spent $93 million in California to fight
the disease, which spreads through manure, mucus and eggs.
United Poultry Concerns
http://www.upc-online.org/spring03/end.htm
Special Report on Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) and the Mass Killing of Birds
"In an unscientific effort to prevent the spreading of END (exotic Newcastle disease), the task force kills all birds in an area where END has been allegedly located, regardless of the bird's status as a healthy, disease-free bird." - Attorney William H. Dailey in a Petition filed on March 24, 2003
In January, California Gov. Gray Davis and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) declared a state of emergency to protect California's $3 billion poultry and egg industry from exotic Newcastle disease (END), a contagious virus that affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems of birds and, while said to be harmless to humans, "can cause pink eye in rare circumstances," according to Pima County, Arizona Sheriff's Detective Mike Duffey.
In February, UPC President Karen Davis joined a meeting of animal protection groups, concerned citizens, journalists, and government officials in Los Angeles to discuss the handling of the situation. Hosted by attorney William Dailey, and Cherylynn Costner of the Hillary Chicken Memorial Fund, the meeting also included representatives of The Fund For Animals, the Humane Farming Association, The Humane Society of the United States, Last Chance for Animals, the Parrot Society of Los Angeles, Mike and Sue Swallow, and others.
On March 24, 2003, attorney William H. Dailey filed a Petition with the Superior Court of California on behalf of 13 bird owners, the Hillary Chicken Memorial Fund and the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights, urging the court to order Gov. Davis to rescind his emergency order calling for the eradication of exotic Newcastle disease through the "expeditious disposal of poultry" and to order Davis and government agencies to establish due-process protections that prevent authorities from arbitrarily slaughtering companion or show birds. "We're asking the court to tell the government to do things differently and to obey the constitution," Dailey said. "Over 3 million birds were slaughtered to date just in California and most of them weren't infected." Dailey's motion accuses Gov. Davis and the CA task force of "repeated abuses of constitutional rights and cruelty toward citizens and violations of animal anti-cruelty statutes."
To read the Petition go to http://www.upc-online.org/poultry_diseases/
For updates call Cherylynn Costner, Hillary Chicken Memorial Fund: 877-452-4425.
"Men in white suits come to your door to kill your precious birds." - Sue Swallow
So far the USDA and CA Dept of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) have killed more than 3 1/2 million birds at a cost to taxpayers in excess of $40 million, including $12.8 million paid in indemnities to bird owners (Scripps Howard, 4/1/03). Chickens, parrots, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys, emus, peafowl, and other birds were, and are now being, killed, the majority showing no sign of the disease. If one bird tests positive in a flock consisting of one bird or a million birds, all of the birds are destroyed.
California resident Sue Swallow describes the treatment of companion birds: "A vet shows up with a bunch of low paid thugs and prison labor. In full view of a family, including the children, they catch the birds they can catch, tape their legs together, put each one in a plastic bag, and gas them with carbon dioxide. The ones they can't catch they shoot with pellet guns until they are dead. Geese and emus they bludgeon to death with clubs."
"We can't even drive past the Norco Egg Ranch anymore. Just the thought of a quarter of a million innocent chickens who never saw the sun, never got to put their feet on the ground, never got to have a life, and then gassed like Jews in a concentration camp and thrown away like garbage, all to benefit a select bunch of well-connected millionaires, turns my stomach." - Mike and Sue Swallow
The Cockfighting Connection
Though cockfighting has been illegal in California since 1905 - as is raising roosters for fighting, participating in or attending a cockfight and possessing fighting paraphernalia -there are at least 3 million game birds in the state and 50,000 - 60,000 owners (Poultry Times, 2/17/03). A county detective explains, "These guys have two to 400 roosters, on the pretext of raising show birds. They're tied to stakes, in the open, and go through a training regimen to make them fighters" (Modesto Bee, 2/9/03). Cockfighters bring birds up from Mexico and move them from state to state despite federal quarantines. They work on poultry and egg farms, tracking the disease into chicken houses.
Despite the illegality of cockfighting in California and 47 other states, USDA is compensating cockfighters whose birds are destroyed under the END eradication program, as high as $1,850 per bird (The Californian, 3/15/03). This compensation supports cockfighting and encourages cockfighters to "find" END, kill their birds, and introduce new birds in order to get paid. California resident Mike Swallow told UPC (3/13/03), "They hide 5 or 6 dead birds and after depopulation sell those dead birds to other cockfighters to infect their birds and get the big payoff."
The Poultry and Egg Industry: Culpability and Reward
"END spreads rapidly among birds kept in confinement, such as commercially raised chickens." USDA Fact Sheet (1/6/03)
"Chicken ranchers should be thrilled that the government has such a generous program to shield them from financial ruin." - Scripps Howard, 4/1/03
In addition to END's being transmitted through infected birds' droppings and secretions from the nose, mouth, and eyes, a USDA Fact Sheet (1/6/03) explains that the disease "is often spread by vaccination and debeaking crews, manure haulers, rendering truck drivers, feed delivery personnel, poultry buyers, egg service people, and poultry farm owners and employees." And while the mass killing of birds to eradicate END is being done to protect the poultry and egg industry, there is another side to the slaughter, exemplified by the egg rancher who killed 100,000 of his hens, not because they had END but because they were "spent." Since he couldn't truck them to slaughter due to the quarantine in his area, he was reimbursed for every hen "pouring over the side of the truck," whereupon he told the Los Angeles Daily News (2/15/03), "For a guy who's been losing money for three years this could be the first sizable check in a long time."
That's because the state is paying egg companies $2 to $5 per bird for losses incurred under the END eradication program, an exchange welcomed by an industry that's been trying to reduce the U.S. flock size for years and normally gets -0 to 10 cents per unwanted hen. U.S. egg companies normally suffocate their "spent" flocks in dumpsters and sell them to renderers, having no other market for their "product." "They'd be crying all the way to the bank," if their chickens were stricken, one poultry producer told the Los Angeles Times (1/8/03). It is thus reasonable to suppose that many flocks are intentionally being "stricken" and that END has to do not only with cockfighting but collusion between the egg industry and the government to consolidate the industry and eliminate the smaller guys, who are killing their birds, taking the money, and selling their land to real estate developers.
Urge U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman to endorse, and your Members of Congress to support, the Ensign-Allard-Cantwell (Senate) and Bartlett-Andrews (House of Representatives) legislation that increases interstate commerce in birds intended for cockfighting from a misdemeanor to a felony. Tell Secretary Veneman to stop reimbursing cockfighters as part of the END eradication program. Tell your Members of Congress you do not want your taxes used to benefit cockfighters but to support a federal program to uphold federal and state laws that prohibit cockfighting.
The Honorable Ann Veneman
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington DC 20250
Phone: 202-720-3631
Fax: 202-720-2166
Email: agsec@usda.gov
The Honorable _________
U.S. Senate
Washington DC 20510
The Honorable _________
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515
To find your U.S. Senators and House Representative call the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 or go to www.hsus.org.
Tell Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and your Members of Congress you do not want your taxes used to indemnify the poultry and egg industries for their "losses" - the suffocation, gassing, and "mulching" of millions of helpless birds. Ask why U.S. taxpayers are being forced to prop up these billion-dollar industries. The CA poultry industry is valued at $3.2 billion and the U.S. chicken industry at nearly $17 billion. Request a written response
United Poultry Concerns
http://www.upc-online.org/spring03/woodchipping.htm
Egg Company Threw 30,000 Hens Into Wood-Chipping Machines
The farmer, Bill Wilgenburg, said he had to use a mulcher . . . because of rules imposed by the federal-state Task Force on Newcastle Disease" that prevented him from moving his "spent" hens off the property. - North County Times (2/28/03)
San Diego County investigated the Ward Egg Ranch, whose workers said their arms got tired "from breaking the chickens' necks, so they threw them into the machinery." USDA veterinary consultant Gregg Cutler, who sits on the Animal Welfare Committee of the AVMA, reportedly told the ranch the wood chipper was "painless" (San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/22). Though County Animal Services Lt. Mary Kay Gagliardo said "It's clearly animal cruelty" (North County Times, 2/28), the DA's Office announced on April 10 that the company "did not commit any crime because a veterinarian from the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave them permission to use wood chippers to destroy the birds" (San Diego Union Tribune, 4/11).
UPC had urged the District Attorney to prosecute the company and wrote to the AVMA concerning Cutler's advice to use wood-chippers. The AVMA wrote back: "Dr. Cutler informed us that he never recommended using a wood chipper." UPC is doing a follow- up investigation of this case.
Victorville Daily Press, CA
http://www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-bin/newspro/viewnews.cgi?newsid1051795451,7994,
Thursday, May 1, 2003
Quarantine's impact comes home to roost
A.V. ostrich farmer says Exotic Newcastle Disease is financially ruining him
By NIKKI COBB/Staff Writer
APPLE VALLEY - It's hard to arrive at the O.K. Corral Ostrich Farm unnoticed.
A three-legged St. Bernard hops down the dirt drive, followed closely by curious
goats. Pot bellied pigs look up from their food dishes as an emu and several
geese observe from a distance. And hundreds of ostriches hurry to the gate of
their enclosure, bobbing and flapping as they scrutinize a visitor.
But the real threat to the 800 birds on Doug Osborne's farm is insidious,
undetectable even to the keen senses of the animal sentries. The danger of
Exotic Newcastle Disease, a deadly specter that has forced the euthanasia of
more than 3 million birds statewide since October, jeopardizes the farm's very
existence.
Southern California poultry has been under quarantine since November, no birds
being allowed out of the region because of the highly contagious - and deadly -
disease. For Osborne, that means his livelihood is at stake, and time's running
out.
"My hand is in a vice and they are turning it down," Osborne said Wednesday
regarding the quarantine.
The prohibition on exporting birds has left Osborne without income, as he can't
send his birds to the USDA certified slaughter house outside of the quarantine
region.
Each bird eats five pounds of feed daily, he said, costing him $7,000 each month
in feed alone. He expects to run out of money in 60 days, and wonders how he
will care for his flock.
"We're stuck. We're really, really stuck," he said. "It's a pitiful thing. I've
been in this business 14 years, and weathered the ups and downs. But this
thing - I just don't know how I'll make it."
Despite there being no documented cases of ostriches contracting Exotic
Newcastle Disease in the United States, they are at risk to catch or carry the
disease and so are included in the quarantine, said Leticia Rico, spokeswoman
for the state and federal Exotic New Castle Disease Task Force.
Rico said the disease is so infectious it can remain on clothing, shoes, or even
automobile tires for days, and every precaution must be taken to prevent its
spread.
"We've seen the incidence of cases dropping recently," Rico said. "But just to
be sure, even after we're not finding any new infection it will be many, many
months before the quarantine is lifted."
Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, said that though
the $3 billion California poultry industry has for the most part been able to
absorb the financial setbacks caused by the disease, individual farmers such as
Osborne are suffering.
"It's a small market," for ostrich meat, Mattos said. "But if that's your way of
making a living obviously you're going to feel the impact."
Osborne said his situation is dire. He has the opportunity to apply for a
contract with a national restaurant chain, but as time wears on his chances are
growing dim.
"I feel like a poor hungry kid with his nose pressed up against the window of
the donut shop," he said. "I was finally starting to make a profit in this
business, but I'm facing poverty and have no idea how I'm going to feed my
birds."
Osborne said some farmers qualify for federal subsidies in situations such as
his, but ostrich raisers aren't included on that list. For now, he said, all he
can do is wait.
"The chicken farmers whose birds have to be euthanized are paid fair market
value for the depopulated birds, and emergency subsidies are available for other
farmers," he said. "But as for me, I won't be able to feed my birds, and all my
ostriches are going to die."
"That's not an option," he said.
Nikki Cobb can be reached at nikki_cobb@link.freedom.com or 951-6277.
San Diego Union Tribune, CA
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20030501-9999_1mc1new.html
Newcastle task force sees effort paying off
By Elizabeth Fitzsimons
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
May 1, 2003
Just a month ago, there seemed to be no end in sight for the spread of exotic Newcastle disease.
The list of cases was growing daily, and an aggressive policy of killing infected birds, and any possibly exposed to the virus, didn't seem to be doing much good.
Now, six months after exotic Newcastle first was detected in Los Angeles County, and the destruction of 3.2 million birds in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, the march of exotic Newcastle has slowed dramatically.
There have been no new cases of infected poultry commercial flocks in four weeks, and reported cases among backyard and pet birds, which once climbed by hundreds in a week, now only trickle in at one or two a day, or none at all.
"We're so relieved," said Leticia Rico, spokeswoman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture. "It's good news. The incidents are decreasing, they're not increasing, so we know we're headed in the right direction."
Rico said the work of the state and federal Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force, charged with locating diseased birds, destroying them and then decontaminating infected sites, was paying off. She also credited public education on the measures designed to protect birds as a factor in the decreasing number of cases.
"As people have become aware of the disease and how to protect their birds it's slowed down because they're not participating in things that could endanger their birds," Rico said.
The effort hasn't been cheap. Officials estimate that $102 million has been spent thus far to fight the virus, which is deadly to all birds but doesn't infect humans.
The task force, which at one point numbered more than 1,600 people, many brought in from other parts of the country, is beginning to reduce its staff, a sign that officials are optimistic.
But whether the lull in new cases signals the beginning of the end of the outbreak is a guess experts are reluctant to take.
"You know, I guess that would be a nice thought to have," said Harold Hilliker, owner of Hilliker Egg Ranch in Lakeside. "But by the time you think that, that's when something goes wrong because everybody lets their guard down. I'm not willing to accept that yet. Remember 25, 30 years ago, we thought the same thing and here we are with the same problem."
Hilliker and other ranchers, whether they were in business at the time or growing up, remember the last time exotic Newcastle hit the California poultry industry. That outbreak, in the early 1970s, took three years to eradicate, at a cost of $56 million. Twelve million birds were destroyed.
During the current outbreak, eight Southern California counties were placed under quarantine. Postal carriers in San Diego County and elsewhere were asked to estimate the number of birds on their routes, so task force workers going door to door to take surveys of bird populations had some idea where to look.
Many of the birds killed were at the 22 commercial egg ranches where the disease was detected. Seven of those ranches are in San Diego County – six in Valley Center and one in Ramona.
In Northern California, where poultry meat farmers anxiously tracked the disease as it spread to Arizona and Nevada, there is much relief.
"The fact that it hasn't been found north of the Tehachapis is a very, very good sign," said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation, a trade group.
Mattos said the meat industry, located primarily in the Central Valley, has lost about $5 million in exports because of countries banning shipments of poultry products from California.
Some of the countries are beginning to reconsider the restrictions, Mattos said, after he and others in the industry argued that the exotic Newcastle outbreak was a Southern California problem, not one that should affect the entire state. Only 2 percent of the state's $3 billion poultry industry involves exports.
It could be several months before officials declare they have beaten exotic Newcastle disease, and there is no telling when quarantines would be lifted.
Hilliker said he doubts Southern California egg farmers will ever stop practicing the strict "bio-security" measures, such as hosing down trucks with disinfectant and requiring workers to change clothes, designed to protect their businesses from the virus.
"They'll never go back to the way things used to be," he said.
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