Monthly Archives: February 2021

Russian tanker cuts a previously impossible path through the warming Arctic

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/russian-tanker-cuts-a-previously-impossible-path-through-the-warming-arctic/

BY ALEXANDRA ODYNOVA

FEBRUARY 23, 2021 / 10:33 AM/ CBS NEWShttps://www.cbsnews.com/embed/video/?v=90e7edd0f15ac3c6b9d88895f2cc4fde#xVZZb9w2EP4rgh4L06JuaYGisJsCTZumhp08FN5gwWO0y5o6Skp7IPB%2F71DS7tpu0CAB0sIwlqLm%2FGbmG3302dC3nWYHf9GbAS78rZLQ%2BouPvuqhtv7i%2FqPfHzrwF%2F62lf6FryQeK8l4GlcpSWRUkgTwVFaxJGlOqwKSgoeCoWzd7W%2Bheu00HviN4lv9182r1wf4vWyu1S%2B3v5XFH4dd%2FjM1byxKWz2sUdKABWbEBowlom2EHiQQzcwabE%2FwRa8EgX0HUvWqbVCvV7128d2eFb1KNcpuvFnNuxrVvGdqEh5QCQ%2FVoPWnbByd%2F6sVwZq2UYLpd19roVc1vmJ15y%2FCjKZZlCR5SinFCAfDRqFFRNPz4xvGQaMnGi%2BiFA3o6bnBNLA8NUNPrn7Wwb7p%2B84ulsEyENw2sLPxJR4U%2BsM4LkVbL4PNwJeBWgZmGUQ0ossgDPE%2FXwZJWVBgIiRJlEusdJaRIg5LElYx41Ums4qiZr8Zat4wpZdBltB9nKGFJC0qWYlYVHkIBU9Zjr3CoRIp4wXl%2BRQNqQaL6ZAvKzg5OSRpUeZJSWa3l392a0Rj88m0o2%2BYdhgVdJ87EyyLKeM0FWkqYxlmBZOQ5YngOeNZGolvl%2Ffjhd8Z2CrYvTf6GQC200rAJav1%2BlK1GGOHSW8j%2FHeDvgw%2BN5jLYDa8DPwTOzyx35lWXiI1jG8uZ7gniOcHdIUgb7R9iXRYRDQvaBaGRYYBjWnlq1GwZrYHc1nHQ3H0Gv3nbqvW1KxHt6xzII7Dtwz2pO5g%2Ff72DUoML8De7XbPY5lB%2FrJSj0gr%2B7ruWheOv6iYtkjNSNRKjNTserxgcS6ylBPBZUISLjjhVGak4q59o7wM8%2BLMqi4qNx0KjAsE6f5%2BuvuAncMMNP07Z%2F0tqx2J%2FXh99%2Fap9PVhenE%2FvfmA7Qadsq3EuxB9ALOOpvzQOYR1jeamF0OH3WPtKQWm9ZUQeHOtW%2FFwIi373oK5G7gVRnGQJ3HbtY1tzVFuA%2FurV1CxQbuq0Av888fb6%2FNtXF4k6UVaOmY1TDyoZu0gw2pY0RoYz9hKMaUpLTIk8GTOd66Z4%2FQMr75zLvGhsSvbr9YOFVfW6YZ1K%2BbyfbsMrvxHRKMe9jem7cD0h18BwfWjJAfJ0iwOcxmmSZmUYRTHLM78R0S8hp6NHI0h9rA%2BuDPebVo5dRs0cjQ7F68C1g8GJBFuBYBbw%2FNOxoARIgf3eQ%2FiEYccD6f2229wEkSrNYipv05qy%2BCl7WXwg7Ir3a7XIFeq%2BZ46bnmKpLI%2FNYxrV6Xpi4EZbF8NVwPGb9yyv%2FdplcqwhISwqkQiLStJiohTZK4wyQueMZ7nrvOeqR5bjGnYs0Ya5rXy0LRb9kRy%2FJaQVZZFgoeEyrwiSZ5JUkaiIJJTniRFEUeV6%2FxZ5WbgrzAxVxMaoU5EotgL00UcL5LoLHbc32awVrHG61nzAMYTQ2895o0c2A5WHzzlxtIqRMDrWL%2Fx%2Bo1ph7X7BW%2FHTI0wedNIPzF%2BrFbTI%2Bir%2Bda12qkoM3AZoxnNOIEoxa%2BrMkwRwpCTCPKoFEWMa7VycJz1jqgJjau%2FB09sWIPd%2BsF94GyR%2BWfXEuwD8sdILK9g69Dw3eSvjwKuuVfum8%2BNMP7%2BrBzz3Pu71mjpzLnLu8knik%2FX0%2B1sAQfdjavaIg7A%2FZmvxoplNE%2BrhBYkTwtJwhAiUsowIpSGRQUFo5TTo8JMQUcHmJbCuU5OWN61gxEwUZo3jyQ32DA3mvWOskePMwuvXHyrc%2FLucXYwSzi3wLQaatfcuFYqpZ%2B8dgooAo2DzC0dNw6nj76Xy%2FYf%2FD8tormnyNRTxPUUYeTcU%2BTcU8T1FJl7Cn%2BBzD01r4lxN9S4KNhNa8dtMaOvgcm5ov9TVM71jO23cjHy2WfT%2B9ql%2B%2Fj4Nw%3D%3D

Moscow— A Russian natural gas tanker has completed an experimental round trip along the Northern Sea Route — the first time the path across the Arctic has been forged at this time of year. The voyage by the Christophe de Margerie tanker through the ice is the latest visual indicator ofclimate change in the delicate region.

The tanker, run by the Sovcomflot shipping company, returned to the remote Russian gas terminal at Sabetta on February 19, taking Russia one step closer to its goal of year-round commercial navigation through the warming Arctic.https://www.cbsnews.com/embed/video/?v=90e7edd0f15ac3c6b9d88895f2cc4fde#xVZta9xGEP4rQh%2BL97Srdx2UYselCQ2OYydQsMKxb7rbWG%2FRSuc7gv97ZyTdneMWQkOSYsxJq9mZ2WeefWY%2Bu3zom7bke3dZ8NLqM3drlG7c5WfX9Lqy7vLus9vvW%2B0u3W2j3DPXKHjkKhYxz1JSiDAgIVWcpJQVJBG%2BLwoVsThNwbZqdze6eIU73safbv762KaXf7zhw83%2B8u2ViI3%2F6WWZvQvOzYuXYG3LYQ2WdcM5sdLouje2t8TyPeGd7I0kxhK54fXa1GvCe8JrwkveVfja8V6Dj970JeZ69eb83Dk5ccCJcz46cYx1Dk4c3ju8dhaLBWxV%2Bh42wkMxlOU3%2BcndQzq568wJSV43tZG8fPe9PPam0rbnVesuWUyTOExpHFFK4QQDmJimdpdhlp5eX3OhS4hM0yXDqpTTew3HhHJWfK0t1ttimTZ939pl7uWeFLbWD9ZfwAMkCp7kQjZV7m0GkXsm97rc86lPc4%2F58M9yjwecST9ISVaklISBVoRHUhMhtMgKHnGRZLnXb4ZK1NyUuReHdBfE4KFQgkepDJJCBkGWRqGMWFIUURQHNEwyPmVDisHCcci3E4Qcg5OYwh8jcwqLj%2B0akNn8KwTBD4SA%2BSndJegikypUAQvSJIwZLQIqCpZonaSKQqpF8nMweDxz205vjX5435VfgGHb0ki94FW5XpgGjtoCAFs49ygYufe1C557s%2BPcc48q88R%2F2zVqARIzflnM0E9wzy8QCgDflPY56iwFmvghC1gcpEArOFaUrUbDitted4sqGNJDVP%2Bnhy2aruI9ymaLII6XMvd2pGr1%2Bv3Na7AYnoH98PDwZS4zyN9e9hF1Y19VbYOpHeUe1N%2FIUe6R%2BykPEhlHgkihQhIKKYigKgaZp5pLP8lYkp6UGjPEW2N0B0lsoIfcTWsfgEW8gyTfofcrXqHwvbi4vXpqfbGfPtxNXz4A9XRrbKNgjUEMzS1KmcswoF5X4G76MLTAJGuPR%2BBleS4lrFyUjbw%2FCpt9b3V3OwgrOyO0Oprbtqlt0x3sNnp3fqkLPpRYIXoGf%2B64enFaDbKzMDqLMlTfjst7ABUhg8pY2XR6fAZaBZRGNI1B9MP5vHP9sA%2FEsPQLhoSX2q5sv1ojKljiaYW3K47nvcq9c%2FfxEVtHi0yx%2F02WD7u%2BfiMXXInVrsKEqmF33TWt7vr9nxrq6PphohUH%2FWWJYlGYhRnzg4AHsfsIxa10z8eW0SO11nt8hrVNoyaS61qNJ5h5MpKXNFvdwaBB2qYdgJmI5TRXQPpQEizvqX%2FDIwgMPBypv9vALZRNWWo53Z%2FjttnkeYDc%2B83YVdms11qtTP0rRXF7Wj5jf6%2B5KJEafTcgkTpAs9TnA5ykw6nlzqVFpFimQ8KLjJEwKxRJfUFJlLIwSWEGEkmCdP9i64HXvNQ7XquOO43a182WP7EchyJVxLEvBSNUJQUJk1iRzJcpUYKKMEzTwC%2Fwus1brgdxiSMAVIf6sMcnfuCwaBkEy9A%2FmR0GjW6w1sAM0fP6XneOHGDY4M4ows1gy71jUAusAQSclvcbp990zbDGX%2B08TNLhTOLyxPmhZHUPyK%2FmVeT3sTIzcDHH7iKI9qMIgGMRQMgE8XXiZzINClUUCMdp3wE1WcJM0utpFNJooyBleQittL0H0RrV7FJvEQ0X5WZ9MMDrscLhFXUDfl8alLs796HpSoXucPF2ignm0%2FK0OnsAdUGNMFvAQQt3FsmxYjBwRUVIU5JEqSKMaZ9kivmEUpYWOuWUCnrYMOveIcAAcjQHwJkQBzFTGZCX8IjubTN0Uk%2FK6szKIDqg0HXJe%2BwiYw6zBKww49UJDnydQ84WmIjmpRkqpDt0usKUTz7jBjDRNYKIfdB9fDKvPu%2F%2F%2F2hJU2%2BcWUYmlhFkGeHkxDJyYhlBlpGZZfCrycyyuYWNLarSyvDrBnKD8sxw6Qr1eyry%2F5QWhp7B%2FVEhRhH76vG%2BxyDw%2BPg3

The LNG (liquefied natural gas) tanker set out from the Chinese port of Jiangsu on January 27 after delivering its cargo. It entered the Northern Sea Route, which traverses Russia’s north coast, a few days later near Cape Dezhnev, where it was met…

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Idaho Proposes to Expand Wolf Hunting, Trapping on Public and Private Lands

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

February 17, 2021 | Uncategorized

Idaho Proposes to Expand Wolf Hunting, Trapping on Public and Private Lands

In February, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission (IDFG) announceda proposalto extend the season for wolf hunting and trapping across the state on public and private land. The IDFG offered a total of seven hunting proposals and eight trapping proposals.

In general, the proposals aim to extend all hunting and trapping opportunities, including to:

  • Allow year-round wolf trapping on private land
  • Establish a 12-month wolf hunting season statewide
  • Allow use of snares in some hunting units, including the hunting units that border Yellowstone National Park
  • Allow trapping on public lands in southwestern and southern Idaho

IDFG is accepting public comment on the proposals throughFebruary 25, 2021. It only takes a few minutes to commentand your efforts will have a profound impact on Idaho wolves.

How to Comment

Review these instructions…

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Freshwater fish in “catastrophic” decline, one-third face extinction

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

Sophie Lewis56 mins ago

Wandering horse and pony found in NewburySnow likely tonight

Thousands of fish species are facing “catastrophic” decline — threatening the health, food security and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people around the world. New research shows that one-third of all freshwater fish nowface extinction.a rocky beach next to a body of water: GREECE-ENVIRONMENT© SAKIS MITROLIDIS/AFP via Getty ImagesGREECE-ENVIRONMENT

According toa reportpublished Tuesday by 16 global conservation groups, 18,075 species of freshwater fish inhabit our oceans, accounting for over half of the world’s total fish species and a quarter of all vertebrates on Earth. Thisbiodiversityis critical to maintaining not only the health of the planet, but the economic prosperity of communities worldwide.https://products.gobankingrates.com/r/e48f149e71a19f66115d5f5c8edaefd8?subid=

About 200 million people across Asia, Africa and South America rely on freshwater fishers for their main source of protein, researchers said in“The World’s Forgotten Fishes”report. About one-third of those people also rely…

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COVID-19 is circulating in some animals. What does that mean for us?

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarThe Extinction Chronicles

January has been the deadliest month in the U.S. since the pandemic started.

By <https://abcnews.go.com/author/dr_jonathan_chan> Dr. Jonathan Chan

21 February 2021, 12:41

. 7 min read

<https://s.abcnews.com/images/Health/mink-covid-gty-rc-210219_1613744603038_
hpMain_16x9_384.jpg>

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1:42

President Joe Biden’s vaccine push as he hits the world stage

The president will tour a vaccine manufacturing plant in Michigan amid his
push to pass… Read More

Last month, the nation watched as
<https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/san-diego-zoo-gorillas-close-full-r
ecovery-covid-75490165> Winston the gorilla came down with COVID-19 and then
recovered. So far, the virus has been detected in zoo animals like Winston,
domestic animals like
<https://abcnews.go.com/International/seoul-offers-free-covid-19-testing-pet
s/story?id=75797627> cats and dogs, and most worryingly, in farmed and wild
animals like mink and ferrets.

Now, animal experts are warning that if the virus is circulating freely in
wild animals, it might develop mutations…

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Prison animal farms are ineffective and unethical

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JS

By Jessica Scott-ReidContributor

Sun., Feb. 21, 2021timer2 min. read

Supporters of prison animal farms – namely agriculture industry stakeholders
poised to profit – claim that for incarcerated individuals, farming, milking
and slaughtering animals is beneficial. Supporters believe prison animal
farms provide valuable work skills and aid in the rehabilitation of inmates.
According to some academics and advocates however, those benefits are
unproven, and these operations cause far more harm than good.

Prison farms operated by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) were
outlawed in 2010 by the Conservative government, which found they did not
effectively rehabilitate inmates. The farms were reinstated by the Liberals
in 2019, with plans for two institutions to see thousands of goats farmed
on-site. They’re likely starting this spring, reportedly to produce milk for
the Chinese market.

Profit is the priority of these operations, not the rehabilitation of
inmates, and certainly not the welfare of animals.

“Industrial-scale animal farming creates brutal conditions for animals and
workers alike,” says Animal Justice executive director Camille Labchuk (with
whom I co-host a podcast). “There’s no rehabilitative aspect to a factory
goat farm. All it teaches incarcerated persons is that animals should be
exploited and commodified. This is hardly consistent with inspiring more
care and compassion for others.”

In a recent article
<https://theconversation.com/the-correctional-service-of-canadas-goat-plans–
wont-help-inmates-153183> condemning the future prison farming operation,
professors Amy Fitzgerald and Amanda Wilson agree: “There is no empirical
evidence that working in a major livestock operation has any rehabilitative
impact,” they write, adding “internal documents indicate CSC will be using
nearly $10 million of its capital budget for the program.”

Of particular concern for Shawna Gray, a social worker and member of the
Ceg-a-Kin Nakota Nation, is that 30 per cent of Canada’s incarcerated
population are Indigenous.

“Indigenous people have sacred relationships with this land and the
animals,” Gray says. “The introduction of exploitative farming practices
into Indigenous communities was one component of a colonial system designed
to assimilate Indigenous peoples and destroy their cultural practices.”

Making incarcerated Indigenous individuals engage in this form of work can
reinforce and perpetuate long-standing systems of oppression and violence,
says Gray. “If we teach and model oppression and violence, we will encourage
oppression and violence.”

Ultimately, prison animal farms exist exclusively to generate profit for
those seeking to benefit from cheap labour and animal exploitation. They
were outlawed for a reason, and that reason persists today: prison animal
farms are ineffective, unethical, and do not belong in Canada.

Jessica Scott-Reid is a writer, animal advocate and co-host of the
<https://animaljustice.ca/feed/podcast/> Paw & Order podcast.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/02/21/prison-animal-farms–
are-ineffective-and-unethical.html?fbclid=IwAR20AU3bjTQBl38sdGJhicuU2_g08FEV
gFH5m9r9V4ix62WDd-WsSc5xt8k

<https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/02/21/prison-animal-farms
-are-ineffective-and-unethical.html?fbclid=IwAR20AU3bjTQBl38sdGJhicuU2_g08FE
VgFH5m9r9V4ix62WDd-WsSc5xt8k>

<https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/02/21/prison-animal-farms
-are-ineffective-and-unethical.html?fbclid=IwAR20AU3bjTQBl38sdGJhicuU2_g08FE
VgFH5m9r9V4ix62WDd-WsSc5xt8k> Opinion | Prison animal farms are ineffective
and unethical

Animal farms staffed by inmates exist exclusively to generate profit for
those seeking to benefit from cheap labour and animal exploitation. They
were…

http://www.thestar.com <http://www.thestar.com

Quadriplegic hunter bags 10-point buck from wheelchair

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

THE MOUNTAIN STATE’S TRUSTED NEWS SOURCE.

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Benear
Hunting from a tracked, all-terrain wheelchair, bowhunter Randy Benear was able to take a 10-point buck (pictured) and an 8-point buck during West Virginia’s archery/crossbow season last fall. Benear uses a mechanism, powered by an electric motor, to aim the compound bow he has mounted to his wheelchair.Courtesy photo

Twice on that October morning, the 10-point buck Randy Benear hoped to kill had come toward him, but had stayed outside of his bow’s range.

The third time turned out to be a charm. When the buck came within 18 yards, Benear adjusted the dial that controlled the bow-holding apparatus bolted to his wheelchair, took…

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Wisconsin opens early wolf hunt after hunter group sued

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https://www.fairfieldcitizenonline.com/news/article/Wisconsin-opens-early-wolf-hunt-after-hunter-15969509.php

TODD RICHMOND, Associated PressFeb. 22, 2021Updated: Feb. 22, 2021 2:56 p.m.

FILE - This July 16, 2004, file photo, shows a gray wolf at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minn. Wisconsin wildlife officials opened an abbreviated wolf season Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, complying with a court order to start the hunt immediately rather than wait until November. The hunt will run through Sunday, Feb. 28 across six management zones.
FILE – This July 16, 2004, file photo, shows a gray wolf at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minn. Wisconsin wildlife officials opened an abbreviated wolf season Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, complying with a court order to start the hunt immediately rather than wait until November. The hunt will run through Sunday, Feb. 28 across six management zones.Dawn Villella/AP

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin wildlife officials opened a wolf season Monday after hunting advocates sued to move the start date up from November amid fears that the Biden administration might restore protections for the animals.

The hunt will run through Sunday across six management zones. The DNR set the kill limit at 200 animals, with 119 allocated to the state and the other 81 allocated to Wisconsin’s Chippewa tribes as per treaty agreements. However, the Chippewa regard the wolf as sacred and will not hunt it, leaving the working kill limit at 119.

The DNR estimates that there are at least 1,000 wolves in Wisconsin and its aim is to maintain a population of 350. The agency issued 2,380 permits, or 20 times its kill limit for non-tribal members. Department officials said Monday that they received 27,151 applications.

Wisconsin law requires the DNR to run a wolf hunt from the beginning of November through the end of February. But wolves have been bouncing on and off the federal endangered species list for the past decade. The DNR ran its first hunt in 2012 after the Obama administration removed protections and ran two more before a federal judge re-listed the animals in late 2014.

The Trump administration delisted wolves in most of the U.S. again in January. The DNR was preparing to hold a season in November, but a Kansas-based hunting advocacy group, Hunter Nation, won an order from a Jefferson County judge that forced the agency to hold a season before the end of February. The group argued that President Joe Biden’s administration could restore protections for wolves before November and deny hunters a season.

Wolf management has been one of the most contentious outdoor issues that Wisconsin has grappled with over the past 20 years.https://76d961ea361c0da475844b09a515da55.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.htmlRead More

Northern Wisconsin farmers and residents say wolves kill their livestock and pets. According to DNR data, the state paid a total of $189,748 in 2019 to farmers and dog owners to compensate them for losses to wolves. It paid out $144,509 in 2018 and $102,600 in 2017.

Conservationists counter that the wolf population isn’t stable enough to support hunting them and that the animals are too beautiful to allow it.

Legislators in neighboring Minnesota have introduced dueling bills that would ban hunting wolves in that state and mandate a season. Maureen Hackett, founder and president of Howling for Wolves, a Minnesota-based wolf advocacy organization, issued a statement Monday condemning the Wisconsin hunt.

“As apex predators, (wolves) have the social and biological structure to control their own pack sizes and numbers,” she said. “The political decision to remove federal Endangered Species Act protections for the wolf is against public sentiment and sound science.”

An animal rights group calling itself Wolf Patrol planned to monitor hunters across the northern management zones starting Monday. In 2016, then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill prohibiting people from bothering hunters in the woods in response to allegations that Wolf Patrol members followed and filmed wolf hunters in Wisconsin and Montana in 2014.

The Wisconsin DNR still plans to go ahead with another season starting in November.

___

This story has been updated to correct that the DNR issued 2,380 permits, not 4,000.

___

Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter: https://twitter.com/trichmond1

CDFW mailbag: Removing ‘No hunting’ sign is not just petty theft

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Exposing the Big Game's avatarCommittee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog

https://www.redding.com/story/sports/2021/02/19/cdfw-mailbag-removing-no-hunting-sign-california-crime/6745000002/

California Department of Fish and WildlifeView Comments0:160:50https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.443.0_en.html#goog_435864689about:blankabout:blank

Q:I own 80 acres in Mendocino County. My wife and I love to watch wildlife, especially the turkeys and deer, and occasional wild pigs.

We don’t hunt, and I’ve posted “No hunting” and “No trespassing” signs in a dozen locations around my property. Last month I noticed one of the signs was gone. I replaced the sign, and now it’s gone again, which makes me think someone may have taken it intentionally.

It’s only a sign, but this would be theft, right?

— Anonymous

A:There’s a law in the California Fish and Game Code (FGC) that applies more to this situation than petty theft. The FGC states, among other things, that it is unlawful for any person to maliciously tear down, mutilate or destroy any sign, signboard or other notice forbidding hunting or trespass on land.

Hopefully your…

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Russia reports first human cases of H5N8 bird flu

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-20/russia-reports-first-cases-of-h5n8-bird-flu-in-humans-kldwj8sh

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Published 1 day ago

 

on February 20, 2021

ByBNO News

File photo (Credit: OIE)

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Seven people at a poultry farm in southern Russia have been infected with H5N8 bird flu, officials say, making it the first time that the highly pathogenic virus has been found in humans. There is no evidence of human-to-human transmission.

“Today, I want to inform you about an important scientific discovery made by scientists at the Vector scientific center,” Anna Popova, the head of Russia’s consumer health watchdog, said on Saturday. “The first cases of human infection with [avian influenza A(H5N8)] have been laboratory confirmed.”

The virus was found in seven employees at a poultry farm in southern Russia, where outbreaks of H5N8 were reported in the bird population in December 2020. Popova described the human cases as “mild,” according to the Interfax news agency.

“The virus can be transmitted from birds to humans, it has overcome the interspecies barrier,” Popova said. “As of today, this variant of the influenza virus is not being transmitted from person to person. Only time will tell how quickly future mutations will allow it to overcome this barrier.”

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Popova said the discovery will help researchers prepare for the possibility of human-to-human transmission of the H5N8 virus. Detailed information about the cases has been submitted to the World Health Organization.

H5N8 has been found in birds since at least 1983 and outbreaks have occurred frequently since 2014, when it was found in breeding ducks in South Korea. Numerous outbreaks have been reported during the past 6 months, including in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, China, Japan, and South Korea.

“The H5N8 type influenza is regarded as pathogenic and is currently manifesting itself in a variety of ways, from asymptomatic and sub-clinical to highly lethal in some populations,” the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said in an update about recent outbreaks.

Human cases of H5 viruses are rare but are typically found in those who have contact with sick or dead birds.

239 human cases of H5N1 bird flu have been reported in China and Southeast Asia since 2003, killing 134 people, according to WHO. More recently, two people in China were infected with the H5N6 variant in January, causing the death of a three-year-old girl.

“Community awareness of the potential dangers for human health is essential to prevent infection in humans,” WHO said in a public health assessment for H5 viruses. “Surveillance should be continued to detect human cases and early changes in transmissibility and infectivity of the viruses.”