Today’s installment of Chronicling the End is also centers on the new strain of bird flu, which could play a major role in the bringing on an early demise for the species since, as Jim Pipas, virologist at the University of Pittsburgh, said: “…H7N9 is so different from influenza viruses currently circulating in the human population, humans are likely to lack an effective immune response to the virus…”

But this crisis actually has a solution—if only people are willing to forgo one of their longest-held vices—eating birds.

As CNN reports: Anne Kelso, the director of a WHO-collaborating research center, said researchers had seen a “dramatic slowdown” in human cases in Shanghai after the city’s live poultry market was shut on April 6. Describing the finding as “very encouraging,” she said evidence suggests the closure of live poultry markets is an effective way to stop the spread of the virus.

The joint inspection team from China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission and the World Health Organization also found that, so far, no migratory birds have tested positive for the virus. It said the H7N9 virus is only being found in chickens, ducks and pigeons at live poultry markets. So far there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, the authorities say.

This doesn’t have to become a pandemic, people. Let’s think outside the bucket here. The simple solution is, close the poultry markets, give up meat, and stop confining birds by the billions.

On a related not, CNN Money reports: Bird flu eats up Yum profits in China…