the first case of this strain of h5n1 was detected in farmed geese in china’s southern guangdong region. southern china is unique ecologically and has been designated a putative influenza epicenter. it has many bodies of water, intensive farming systems, a highly dense human population, and is a dynamic industrial setting. the area is also an important wintering location for many migratory birds.

in the spring of 1996 several outbreaks of h5n1 occurred in farm geese at sanshui, a small town about 50 miles west of the capital of guangdong province. there was more than 40% mortality in the farmed geese. typical symptoms of infected geese included bleeding and neurological dysfunction.

by 2005 the virus had spread over to wild birds in a major way and new strains started to emerge. by 2020, it was believed that the viral strain was being sustained in wild bird populations year round. it is now said to be endemic in the migratory wild bird population.

wild birds are believed to have spread the virus worldwide. in 2021 hpai h5n1 hit north america. by 2022 it was in south america. it is believed to have never left the area. all continents have now been affected. in february 2024 it was found in antarctica. australia and new zealand held out the longest. this appeared to be because the migratory birds passing through these countries are shorebirds or waders (e.g., sandpiper plover, herons, egrets, flamingos, ibises, etc.) which are not as susceptible to hpai as waterfowl like ducks and geese. most recently however, australia has had cases of h5n1 hpai. new zealand, therefore, remains the only area without a known case of hpai. according to the new zealand government, however, they remain vigilant.

(https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/62035/direct)

according to the world organization for animal health (woah), wild bird migrations are believed to be the key long-distance carriers of the virus, it is the domestic poultry farms that can amplify it in an area. this reinforces the need for strict adherence to biosecurity programs on all poultry farms worldwide.

h5n1 hpai is now considered panzootic because it has spread to many different mammalian species. twenty-one species in the usa along have been affected. this includes mink, grizzly bears, fox, a polar bear, and an american marten (species of mammal in the same family as weasels, sea otters, and wolverines). scavengers and marine mammals were the first hit, and hit hard. there have been mass die offs of seals and seal lions. tens of thousands have died from quebec, canada to chile, argentina, and peru. 3500 sea lions died off peru’s coast, all infected with avian influenza.

world wide, at least 26 different mammalian species have been affected. in denmark millions of positive farmed mink had to be culled after the hpai virus spread through their fur farms. in canada free-ranging bears have been found to be infected. in france a captive bear was infected.

in some cases, it is not clear where the virus arrived from. mink in spain became sick with h5n1 even though no poultry outbreaks were reported in the region. mink, like swine, can become infected with both avian and human influenza viruses, with the threat of developing mixed strains of both.

new variants of h5n1 evolved in domestic poultry and went back into wild birds with deadly consequences. breeding colonies of sea bird species are most at risk.

in the summer of 2021 an h5n1 variant struck nesting seabirds on the shetland islands of  scotland. ninety percent of the adults in a breeding colony of great skua died.

this was followed by a massive mortality events of barnacle geese, gannets, gulls and terns elsewhere in europe. eight thousand common cranes died in israel. in north america, there has been significant mortality in gulls and eiders (canada is a major source of eider down) in new england  and of murres and gannets along the atlantic coast. in western africa great white pelicans as well as royal and caspian terns have had massive morality. in southern africa, there has been high mortality among the african penguins and cape cormorants. in india, flocks of demoiselle crane have been affected and in japan, hooded cranes.

in march 2024 usda confirmed h5n1 hpai in diary cows in texas and kansas. the virus is of the eurasian lineage goose/guangdong clade 2.3.4.4b. some infected heifers were shipped to other states before the outbreak was confirmed. to date 104 dairy farms in 13 states have become infected. it has also spread to dairy goats. cats drinking milk from infected cows have also become ill.

mortality has been low in the infected dairy herds (< 2%) with symptoms including thickened and discolored milk, low appetite, and reduced milk production. only about 10% of cows in a herd show signs of illness.

four alpacas on a farm in idaho tested positive for h5n1. the farm had recently depopulated an hpai-affected poultry operation.

what is the human risk?

the hpai virus most effectively infects birds since it is an avian influenza virus. however, the influenza virus is notorious for its high propensity to adapt, mutate, and combine with other influenza viruses to form new subtypes. the h5n1 virus has mutated and spilled over into other species, especially mammals. but what about people? is hpai the next pandemic like covid-19. researchers say that is unlikely.

scientists at mrc-university of glasgow centre for virus research (cvr) have identified a gene in human airways that stops us from being infected with avian influenza. the gene has been given the label btn3a3 and it blocks avian influenza viruses from replicating in the cells of our airways. there are, however, some strains of hpai that can evade this gene. the spanish flu of 1918 is thought to have been an avian influenza virus and it resulted in 25 million deaths. genetic mutations in hpai viruses have also resulted in btn3a3 resistant virus strains.

the strain of hpai that infected 1500 people in 2013 with a 40% mortality rate was an h7n9 strain of the virus and not an h5n1.

it is important to remember that the term ‘highly pathogenic’ for hpai refers to chickens and not to other species, including mammals.

poultry and dairy farm workers as well as slaughter plant workers are at the greatest risk because of the higher levels of exposure compared to the general public. contact with sick birds (or cows), or with their droppings, saliva, or feathers are the biggest risk factors. the poultry and milk products available on the market have been found to be safe, with no h5n1 contamination.

a few dairy farm workers have become infected with hpai, presumably from infected cows. the symptoms have not been life threatening and included mainly eye inflammation.

implementing biosecurity measures is a must. a developed plan on paper is not effective unless all staff strictly follow the measures it includes. the biosecurity plan must include covering the waste piles, and reporting any illness in the flock as soon as they are suspected. keeping good feed and water consumption records as well as accurate mortality records are all critical for early disease detection. in a previous outbreak, a drop in water consumption was the first symptom identified.

if you find dead wild birds on or off your farm, they should be left alone and untouched. report them immediately to the ky department of fish and wildlife toll-free at 1-800-858-1549.

the us department of fish and wildlife has more information on avian influenza on their website at https://www.fws.gov/avian-influenza.

uk leads program to train veterinarians in backyard chicken flock care | college news (uky.edu)

16originalfinal.pdf (state.co.us)

statute 18-9-201: definitions

section 2 revisions include deleting the word ‘dumb’ and replacing it with ‘non-human’. makes sense to me. i never understood the use of the word ‘dumb’ in the first place since there are some pretty ‘dumb’ humans out there.

(2) “animal” means any living dumb non-human creature, including, but not limited to, a dog, a cat, a horse, livestock, a certified police working dog, a police working horse, and a service animal as those terms are defined, respectively, in subsections (2.3), (2.9), (2.4), and (4.7) of this section.

section 2.9 involves the addition of fish as a type of livestock. since fish are commercially farmed, i have no problem with that either.

(2.9) “livestock” means bovine, camelids, caprine, equine, ovine, porcine, fish and poultry.

section 3.5 is added to give the lifespan of livestock animals. i have a problem with the determinations of some of these lifespans. for example, it is highly unlikely that a broiler chicken could live for eight years. it would have died of a heart attack long before that or the excess weight will result in serious leg issues. they are not meant to live more than 8-10 weeks. they are a genetic hybrid cross and will likely never be able to reproduce. the males will be too big to mount the females to mate and the hens are unlikely to produce many eggs anyway. the same can be said for commercial meat turkeys. this information on lifespan estimates is important in relation to additions to section 18-9-202 which will be discussed later.

(3.5) “natural lifespan” for the following species shall be explicitly defined here based on statistical estimates: a cow lives to 20 years, a chicken lives to 8 years, a turkey lives to 10 years, a duck lives to 6 years, a pig lives to 15 years, a sheep lives to 15 years, a rabbit lives to 6 years.

section 5 deals with sex with animals and i won’t even discuss that.

(5) “sexual act with an animal” means an act between a person and an animal involving either direct physical contact between the genitals of one and the mouth, anus, or genitals of the other. sexual act with an animal also includes any intrusion or penetration, however slight, with an object or part of a person’s body into an animal’s anus or genitals. a sexual act with an animal may be proven without allegation or proof of penetration. nothing in this subsection (5) shall be construed to prohibit any person from dispensing care to an animal in the interest of improving that animal’s health accepted animal husbandry practices.

statute 18-9-201.5: scope of part 2

they remove ‘accepted animal husbandry practices .. for livestock’ as an exception to the new cruelty to animal laws.

(1) nothing in this part 2 shall affect accepted animal husbandry practices utilized by any person in the care of companion or livestock animals or in the extermination of undesirable pests as defined in beplayapp网页 7 and 10, and 43 of title 35, c.r.s.

statute 18-9-202: cruelty to animals – aggravated cruelty to animals

the newly added section dictates that people can only slaughter food animals after they have lived one-quarter of their natural lifespan. that would mean, based on the lifespans given in 18-9-201 section 3.5, chickens cannot be slaughter until they are at least two years old. that is a pretty tough chicken, regardless of the breed. similarly, turkeys would need to be at least 2.5 years old and ducks would need to be at least 1.5 years old (trying plucking that duck!). if you like pork, it would have to come from a pig that is at least 3.75 years old. same for sheep – they would have to be 3.75 years old, so no more lamb for sale. for beef, the cow would need to be five years old (that is a tough steak!). it is interesting that they added fish to the definition of livestock, but don’t give a natural lifespan that species.

(1.9) any person who slaughters livestock in accordance with accepted agricultural animal husbandry practices does not violate the provisions of subsection (1) of this section so long as the animal has lived one quarter of their natural lifespan based on species, breed, and type of animal and the animal is slaughtered in such a way that the animal does not needlessly suffer.

the next law is to be called wilbur’s law. i guess that is from wilbur in the charlotte’s web story.

(4) the short title of this section is “punky’s wilbur’s law”.

the low would take effect on april 1, 2023. i wouldn’t want to purchase any meat produced in colorado after that date! but i guess that is what the animal rights people want – to shut down meat production in the state. so much for animal welfare considerations though.

section 4. effective date: this act takes effect april 1 st 2023, and applies to offenses committed on or after said date.

they compared brand name eggs labeled as certified organic, enriched diet, cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised, or soy-free.  for the purpose of the study, egg quality was defined as “those characteristics of an egg that affect consumer acceptance and preference.” this included an evaluation of the shell for cleanliness, strength, texture, and shape; an evaluation of the relative viscosity of the albumen; and an evaluation of the shape and firmness of the yolk. they also measured lipid oxidation. egg fat is contained in the yolk and as eggs age the ph of the yolk material changes. this change can result in an increase in free fatty acid content and an increase in the level of the breakdown products that will result in changes in yolk flavor and can cause off-odors. this is usually measured by peroxide value (pv). in addition, the yolk membrane integrity is important for the egg breaking industry (making liquid eggs) since yolk contamination will reduce the foaming volume of egg whites.

to assure that the eggs collected for the study were the same age, they selected only egg cartons that were 15 days before the sell-by date. in the u.s., the sell-by date cannot exceed 30 days after the eggs are packed. this is not necessarily the day the eggs were laid, but simply the date that the eggs were graded and placed in the carton. this could have affected the results. with convention production, eggs are typically graded and packaged within hours of being laid. many specialty eggs are produced on contract farms with regular pickup dates so it may be 1-3 days after the eggs are laid before they are collected, graded, and packaged.

in this study, egg brands of various conventional and specialty designations were shown to produce high-quality products. brand f which was labeled as free-range and pasture-raised had the stickiest yolk among all the brands tested indicating it would not be a good candidate for egg breaking since it would result in a high level of yolk contamination of egg whites. the eggs, however, had a dark yolk meeting the consumer preference for this type of egg. however, despite a cost 4 times that of the conventional egg, the yolk and albumen content, and the yolk stickiness, does not meet the quality standards demonstrated by the other brands examined.

the conventionally-produced white eggs had the greatest increase in percent fatty acids, which could result in the production of off-flavors from hydrolytic rancidity. this may be an indicator that the eggs were handled or stored improperly at some point during the supply chain.

two of the brands analyzed were certified organic with enriched nutrient content. one of these brands had pv values above the allowed threshold indicating that they were considered unsuitable for human consumption.

this study showed that good quality eggs can be produced by all the production systems compared, but proper handling and storage of the eggs, regardless of the production system, is important to maintain that quality through the supply chain.

the article can be found online at survey of egg quality in commercially available table eggs – sciencedirect

as of november 18, 2020, a total of 1,659 people infected with one of the outbreak strains of salmonella have been reported from all 50 states.

• • 326 people (34% of those with information available) have been hospitalized.
  • one death in oklahoma has been reported.
  • 24% of ill people are children younger than 5 years of age.

you can see how your state is doing at https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/backyardpoultry-05-20/map.html

stay healthy around your backyard flock by washing your hands, keeping your birds outdoors, and supervising young children around your flock.

the homeland security memorandum identified 16 critical industries. with regards to agriculture, they included:

• • farm workers to include those employed in animal food, feed, and ingredient production, packaging, and distribution; manufacturing, packaging, and distribution of veterinary drugs; truck delivery and transport; farm and fishery labor needed to produce our food supply domestically
  • farm workers and support service workers to include those who field crops; commodity inspection; fuel ethanol facilities; storage facilities; and other agricultural inputs
  • animal agriculture workers to include those employed in veterinary health; manufacturing and distribution of animal medical materials, animal vaccines, animal drugs, feed ingredients, feed, and bedding, etc.; transportation of live animals, animal medical materials; transportation of deceased animals for disposal; raising of animals for food; animal production operations; slaughter and packing plants and associated regulatory and government workforce

of course, those that manufacture our final food products and those that transport the products to the retail outlets are also critical.

so – thank a farmer, thank a food manufacturer, and thank a truck driver

covid-19 is a coronavirus. yes, chickens get coronavirus – but not all coronaviruses are the same.

the diagram below should give you an idea of what a coronavirus looks like. the projections on the outside of the envelope will determine which species the coronaviruses can attach to. covid-19 is specific to mammals, not birds. right now it is mainly human cases that are being detected, although one dog has tested positive.

coronaviruses are not new. many livestock and poultry diseases are caused by a coronavirus. for chickens, infectious bronchitis (ib) is caused by a coronavirus. ib is not transferred from birds to humans.

so – do not be afraid of your chickens. good biosecurity is important to keep disease of any kind from your flock. always wash your hands with soap and water to make sure that you do not get sick with salmonella, a bacteria carried in the intestines of many animals, including chickens (and humans).

last august kfc conducted a one-day test of similar products from alt-protein supplier beyond meat at an atlanta-area restaurant. the products they introduced sold out in five hours.

what are in these plant-based forms of ‘chicken’? water, soy, sunflower oil, and salt. there is also a natural flavoring made of a mixture of paprika, ginger, nutmeg, mace, and cardamom. i’m sure there is more to it than that, but that is what i found online.

there are claims that it is healthier and better for the environment, but i haven’t seen any evidence to that effect.

with poultry companies investing millions of dollars into fake chicken, i wonder where the industry will go.

full details are available on the committee’s website at: www.epa.gov/faca/frrcc.

questions: frrcc@epa.gov

in the newsroom: https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-seeks-nominations-farm-ranch-and-rural-communities-federal-advisory-committee

to supply this growing market for protein, ‘fake’ meat is becoming popular. meat lovers like the sensory properties of meat, but don’t like that they come from dead animals. the result is plant-based proteins.  but what is in these plant-based burgers on the market today? the burgers are made of soy, peameal, nuts, and leghemoglobin. but what is leghemoglobin? leghemoglobin is also known as legoglobin) is from nitrogen-fixing root nodules of leguminous plants. it is important in carrying nitrogen in such plants, but the compound interacts in a similar fashion with naturally occurring oxygen and nitrogen.

is that what you would include meat? some states are considering legislation that will prevent producers from using the name meat for meatless products or milk for dairy-less products. interesting ideas. what are your opinions?