Tom Polansek, Leah Douglas and Anna Mano

Reuters

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1:09

The U.S. has almost doubled imports of Brazilian eggs once used only for pet food and is considering relaxing regulations for eggs laid by chickens raised for meat, as President Donald Trump‘s administration seeks to bring down sky-high prices spiked by bird flu.

While none of the Brazilian or broiler chicken eggs would wind up on grocery shelves, they could be used in processed foods such as cake mixes, ice cream or salad dressing, freeing up more fresh eggs for shoppers. Allowing the use of broiler chicken eggs would require changing regulations, and some food safety experts warned that this could risk tainting food products with harmful bacteria.

Nationwide economic strain persists from the virus that has wiped out nearly 170 million chickens, turkeys and other birds since early 2022. Grocery shoppers peruse thinly stocked shelves, restaurants have raised menu prices, and wholesale egg prices surged 53.6% in February before easing a bit in March.

The egg shortage has fueled food inflation even as Trump’s trade disputes have threatened to disrupt supply chains and raise costs for fresh produce and other goods.

In February, the administration announced a $1 billion plan to lower egg prices, which includes helping farmers prevent the spread of the virus and researching vaccine options. The Trump administration is also promoting imports from countries such as Turkey, Brazil, and South Korea, which typically send a few eggs to the U.S., and has asked Europe to send more.

U.S. egg imports from Brazil in February increased by 93% from a year earlier, the Brazilian Animal Protein Association said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told Reuters it is reviewing a petition from the National Chicken Council to allow the sale for human consumption of eggs laid by chickens that the council’s members raise for meat.

Currently, broiler chicken producers destroy millions of those eggs because they lack sufficient refrigeration to meet an FDA food-safety requirement.

In 2023, the FDA denied a similar request from the council, citing salmonella risk. The chicken industry hopes the agency will now support the effort as aligned with Trump’s goal of slashing unnecessary regulations, said Ashley Peterson, the council’s senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.

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“We need more yolks for folks,” said U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, who is co-sponsoring a bill to allow the eggs to be used in food products.

Meat, eggs dumped

Each year, broiler chickens lay about 360 million eggs that are not fit to hatch chicks, according to the council. Some are used to manufacture vaccines, exported or used for other purposes, the petition said, but most are destroyed.

Wayne-Sanderson Farms, a top U.S. producer of chicken meat, probably throws away about 500,000 eggs per week that do not meet specifications, said Mark Burleson, the company’s senior director of veterinary services.

Such eggs were once sold to egg-breaking plants to be pasteurized and used in processed foods. But in 2009, an FDA rule aimed at reducing illness from salmonella required eggs to be refrigerated at 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) starting 36 hours after they are laid.

Chicken producers keep broiler eggs at about 65 degrees and do not have equipment in place to refrigerate them at the lower temperature on the FDA’s timetable, the council and farmers said.

The council said the eggs are pasteurized and do not threaten public health. It said it was not aware of safety issues with them before the 2009 rule.

Food safety experts said insufficient refrigeration may increase pathogens to levels where pasteurization is not fully effective.

“There is a real possibility of trading off increased risk of foodborne illness for some proportion of eggs going into the egg products market,” said Susan Mayne, who was director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition when it considered the previous petition.

Egg imports, laws considered

In January, the Trump administration allowed imports of Brazilian eggs to be processed into food products for people, after they were previously only allowed for use in pet food, according to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association.

Brazilian authorities had already proved that Brazil meets U.S. requirements to export eggs to be processed for human consumption, the association said.

However, Brazil is affected by Newcastle disease, a virus that often kills poultry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, and the country cannot supply the U.S. with eggs for sale in grocery stores or pasteurized liquid eggs for human consumption.

States including Nevada and Arizona have paused animal welfare policies that required eggs to come from cage-free hens, in an effort to address tight supplies and high prices.

Nevada in February suspended a 2021 law requiring all eggs sold in the state to come from cage-free hens.

In Arizona, state lawmakers are considering a proposal to repeal a similar rule that was already delayed due to bird flu, said Patrick Bray, executive vice president of the Arizona Farm and Ranch Group, which represents farmers.

“A few years ago, the consumer was demanding a cage-free product,” Bray said. “Now, the consumers’ eyes have been opened up a little bit as we’ve lost hundreds of millions of birds and egg prices are through the roof.”

Health24 March 2025

ByCarly Cassella

(Image Source/Getty Images)

A Florida man in his 70s contracted an extremely rare, life-threatening infection in his implanted defibrillator after eating a feral pig in 2017.

Before cooking and consuming the gift from a local hunter, the man remembers handling the raw meat with bare hands.

Experts suspect it was at this moment that he was unknowingly exposed to a sneaky bacterium, Brucella suis.

Years later, the man began experiencing feverish symptoms, intermittent pain, excess fluid, and a hardening of the skin on the left side of his chest, according to a case study, led by infectious disease specialist Jose Rodriguez from the University of Florida.

When doctors finally figured out what was going on, the insidious bacterial infection had already slipped into the man’s defibrillator, passing through the chest wall, the left subclavian vein, and into the muscular tissue of his left ventricle.

The safest option was to replace the medical device completely.

Globally, brucellosis is the most common bacterial infection that spreads from animals to humans, and it is usually carried by cows, goats, sheep, and pigs.

Infections of B. suis and its close relatives are tricky to treat because they can hide inside immune cells for years on end, causing only mild, feverish symptoms that come and go at random. Since the bacteria are hard to isolate and grow in the lab and easily misidentified, as occurred in this case, blood tests don’t always pick them out.

Defibrillators are a perfect place for Brucella bacteria to hide. Antibiotics are difficult to deliver to these implants because of their limited blood supply, which means that if infected, taking out the whole device is often the only way to ensure proper treatment.

While severe and life-threatening, a Brucella infection of a defibrillator is extremely rare. In a 30-year review of 5,287 patients with a defibrillator, only one patient had a Brucella infection requiring complete device and lead removal with antibiotic therapy.

A series of unfortunate events led to the Florida man’s diagnosis.

In the spring of 2019, long after the man had handled raw pig meat, he began experiencing uncomfortable symptoms on the left side of his chest.

The unfortunate fellow, who also suffers from type 2 diabetes and heart failure, was admitted to the hospital several times that year, where he was treated with a whole host of antibiotics.

His blood cultures revealed an infection with a different bacterium from B. suis, and an ultrasound of his heart showed his defibrillator had migrated to the left chest wall, just below the nipple.

In 2020, his symptoms persisted, so the man sought treatment once again at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville, Florida.

While doctors could find no outward sign of bacteria on his defibrillator’s valves or leads, they were concerned by the possibility of an overlooked infection, and so they decided to take the automated implant out of his body.

Lab analysis later confirmed the device was contaminated by B. suis. The previous bacterium was a misidentification.

“Substantial delays between Brucella exposure and clinical symptoms have been previously reported in patients with cardiac implantable electronic device infections,” write the authors of the case study.

“In this case, the intermittent use of antibiotics with device retainment likely led to a prolonged clinical course.”

After six weeks of taking two antibiotics, the man’s infection was cleared.The patient was outfitted with a new defibrillator four months after his old one was removed.

Now, more than three years later, his blood shows no clinical evidence of brucellosis. His story is a cautionary tale to all who partake in eating unpasteurized dairy products or wild animals.

In the US, feral swine (Sus scrofa) are the principal carriers of B. suis, as livestock are often vaccinated against these infections. Today, there are more than a million feral pigs living in Florida, which suggests the infection may be endemic to some parts of the nation.

The study was published in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

By Tom Polansek and Leah Douglas

March 24, 202511:21 AM PDTUpdated 41 min ago

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US turns to Brazil for eggs during bird flu outbreak

• Summary
• Companies

• Egg prices soared after bird flu killed millions of laying hens
• US expands imports as part of a $1 billion plan to lower prices
• Broiler chicken producers ask FDA to ease refrigeration rule
• States reconsider animal welfare policies to address egg supply

March 24 (Reuters) – The U.S. has almost doubled imports of Brazilian eggs once used only for pet food and is considering relaxing regulations for eggs laid by chickens raised for meat, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to bring down sky-high prices spiked by bird flu.

While none of the Brazilian or broiler chicken eggs would wind up on grocery shelves, they could be used in processed foods such as cake mixes, ice cream or salad dressing, freeing up more fresh eggs for shoppers. Allowing use of broiler chicken eggs would require changing regulations, and some food safety experts warned that this could risk tainting food products with harmful bacteria.

Keep up with the latest medical breakthroughs and healthcare trends with the Reuters Health Rounds newsletter. Sign up here.

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Nationwide economic strain persists from the virus that has wiped out nearly 170 million chickens, turkeys and other birds since early 2022. Grocery shoppers peruse thinly stocked shelves, restaurants have raised menu prices, and wholesale egg prices surged 53.6% in February before easing a bit in March.

The egg shortage has fueled food inflation even as Trump’s trade disputes have threatened to disrupt supply chains and raise costs for fresh produce and other goods.

In February, the administration announced a $1 billion plan to lower egg prices, which includes helping farmers prevent the spread of the virus and researching vaccine options. The Trump administration is also promoting imports from countries such as Turkey, Brazil and South Korea that typically send few eggs to the U.S., and has asked Europe to send more.

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U.S. egg imports from Brazil in February increased by 93% from a year earlier, the Brazilian Animal Protein Association said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration told Reuters it is reviewing a petition from the National Chicken Council, opens new tab to allow sale for human consumption of eggs laid by chickens that the council’s members raise for meat.

Currently, broiler chicken producers destroy millions of those eggs because they lack sufficient refrigeration to meet an FDA food-safety requirement.

In 2023, the FDA denied a similar request from the council, citing salmonella risk. The chicken industry hopes the agency will now support the effort as aligned with Trump’s goal of slashing unnecessary regulations, said Ashley Peterson, the council’s senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs.

“We need more yolks for folks,” said U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, who is co-sponsoring a bill to allow the eggs to be used in food products.

MEAT EGGS DUMPED

Each year, broiler chickens lay about 360 million eggs that are not fit to hatch chicks, according to the council. Some are used to manufacture vaccines, exported or used for other purposes, the petition said, but most are destroyed.

Wayne-Sanderson Farms, a top U.S. producer of chicken meat, probably throws away about 500,000 eggs per week that do not meet specifications, said Mark Burleson, the company’s senior director of veterinary services.

Such eggs were once sold to egg-breaking plants to be pasteurized and used in processed foods. But in 2009, an FDA rule aimed at reducing illness from salmonella required eggs to be refrigerated at 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius) starting 36 hours after they are laid.

Chicken producers keep broiler eggs at about 65 degrees and do not have equipment in place to refrigerate them at the lower temperature on FDA’s timetable, the council and farmers said.

The council said the eggs do not threaten public health because they are pasteurized. It said it was not aware of safety issues with them before the 2009 rule.

Food safety experts said insufficient refrigeration may increase pathogens to levels where pasteurization is not fully effective.

“There is a real possibility of trading off increased risk of foodborne illness for some proportion of eggs going into the egg products market,” said Susan Mayne, who was director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition when it considered the previous petition.

EGG IMPORTS, LAWS RECONSIDERED

The Trump administration in January allowed imports of Brazilian eggs for processing into food products for people, after they were previously only allowed for use in pet food, according to the Brazilian Animal Protein Association.

Brazilian authorities had already proved that Brazil meets U.S. requirements to export eggs to be processed for human consumption, the association said.

However, Brazil is affected by Newcastle disease, a virus that often kills poultry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, and the country cannot supply the U.S. with eggs for sale in grocery stores or pasteurized liquid eggs for human consumption.

States including Nevada and Arizona have paused animal welfare policies that required eggs to come from cage-free hens, in an effort to address tight supplies and high prices.

Nevada in February suspended, opens new tab a 2021 law requiring that all eggs sold in the state come from cage-free hens.

In Arizona, state lawmakers are considering a proposal to repeal a similar rule that was already delayed due to bird flu, said Patrick Bray, executive vice president of the Arizona Farm and Ranch Group, which represents farmers.

“A few years ago, the consumer was demanding a cage-free product,” Bray said. “Now, the consumers’ eyes have been opened up a little bit as we’ve lost hundreds of millions of birds and egg prices are through the roof.”

Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington and Tom Polansek in Chicago. Additional reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo; Editing by Emily Schmall and David Gregorio

Posted on March 24, 2025

4 hours agoShareSave

Steve Jones

BBC News, Yorkshire

The world’sfirst case of bird flu in sheep has been found in the UK, the nation’s chief veterinary officer has confirmed.

The exact location of the farm has not been revealed, but a government spokesperson said the case was identified on a site in Yorkshire where bird flu had been confirmed in captive birds.

The spokesperson said the single infected sheep had been “humanely culled” and no further cases among the flock were found after “extensive testing”.

“There is no evidence to suggest an increased risk to the nation’s livestock population,” they added.

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Christine Middlemiss, the UK’s chief veterinary officer, said “strict” measures had been put in place to prevent the further spread of the disease.

She added: “While the risk to livestock remains low, I urge all animal owners to ensure scrupulous cleanliness is in place and to report any signs of infection to the Animal Plant Health Agency immediately.”

‘Risk very low’

Bird flu, also known as avian influenza or H5N1, is a disease caused by a virus that infects birds and sometimes other animals.

A government spokesperson said there had been a “small number” of cases of bird flu in humans in the UK since 2021.

All bar one had been asymptomatic, although they warned the infection “can be serious”.

The infections were detected in people who had “close and prolonged contact with a large number of infected birds”.

The spokesperson said the disease continued to infect new mammals and spread between them, “increasing the opportunities the virus has to evolve”.

“The concern is that these changes in the virus may at some point allow it to spread readily between people.”

Dr Meera Chand, emerging infection lead at the UK Health Security Agency, said current evidence “suggests that the avian influenza viruses we’re seeing circulating around the world do not spread easily to people”.

Dr Chand added: “The risk of avian flu to the general public remains very low.”

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said 1.78 million farmed and captive birds had been culled between November and February due to the spread of the disease across the UK.

A government spokesperson said the infected sheep was a female who had been showing signs of mastitis, an inflammation of the udder tissue.

The lambs of the affected ewe tested negative for bird flu, the spokesperson added.

While this is the first time this virus has been reported in a sheep anywhere in the world, bird flu has previously been detected in livestock in other countries, according to Defra.

According to the American public health agency the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cases have previously been found in the US in dairy cows.

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The National Sheep Association (NSA), which represents the views and interests of sheep producers in the UK, said mixing different animals was “questionable at the best of times, but should be avoided when England is undergoing a period of mandatory housing measures for poultry due to bird flu outbreaks”.

The Yorkshire farm where the case was found was a smallholding where sheep and poultry were being kept together, a spokesperson added.

NSA chief executive Phil Stocker said the positive case was “not a threat to food safety of consumers”.

National Farmers’ Union president Tom Bradshaw said: “Farmers are understandably concerned that avian influenza has been found in a sheep.

“This remains a single case within what is understood to be a backyard flock, and no other infection has been found amongst the remaining sheep.

“Commercial producers continue to do all they can to protect their animals by following strict biosecurity measures.

“While the risk to the nation’s livestock population remains low, it’s vital that all keepers of domesticated poultry, cattle, sheep and goats maintain high standards of biosecurity and remain vigilant for any signs of disease.”

Defra has placed England in an “avian influenza protection zone” to prevent bird flu and stop it spreading.

Thirteen regions have also seen mandatory housing measures introduced, which state that birds must be kept inside.

They are Cheshire, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, Herefordshire, Lancashire, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, Worcestershire, and York

91.7 WVXU | By Tana Weingartner

Published March 24, 2025 at 3:04 AM EDT\

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Indiana’s Natural Resources Commission has approved a bobcat trapping season in 40 southern Indiana counties, including Dearborn, Franklin, Ohio, Ripley, and Switzerland.

The season will run from Nov. 8 to Jan. 31. Licensed trappers will be allowed to harvest one bobcat per year, up to a statewide maximum of 250 bobcats. State lawmakers mandated the department formulate rules for a trapping season in 2024. The rules are currently awaiting final signatures from Gov. Mike Braun and Attorney General Mike Rokita.

“There’s a lot of us super excited about it. We’ve been having to release these animals for years,” said Indiana State Trappers Association Board member Nick Erny, while advocating for the trapping season.

He expects the bag limit will be increased in the coming years.

While the Indiana DNR says the bobcat population is sufficient to prevent threats of extinction, Indiana Public Broadcasting reports critics, like Samantha Chapman with Humane World for Animals, argue there isn’t adequate population data. That, she said, contradicts science-based wildlife conservation.

Jack Sutton is executive director of the Oak Heritage Conservancy, which manages 15 nature preserves across southeast Indiana, including its largest, Hilltop Preserve, in West Harrison, Ind., just across the state line from Ohio. He says the conservancy has spotted bobcats on its trail cameras at some locations.

“Bobcats are a phenomenal success story,” he says. “They were listed on the state’s endangered species list in 1969 but in 2005 they were de-listed. In the past 20 years, their population has grown. The fact that DNR is taking steps to add them to the [list of] animals that are permitted to be trapped — I think it demonstrates how the population has grown and is doing quite well.”

That said, he doesn’t expect the conservancy will allow trapping on its lands.

Could this affect Ohio’s bobcat population?

Sutton suggests it might be a good idea to study how trapping in Indiana may or may not affect the bobcat population in Ohio.

Bobcats are native to Ohio but were extirpated from the state by the 1850s, meaning while they weren’t extinct, there weren’t any here. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources reports the wild cat species began repopulating in the mid-1900s, but sightings are more frequent in the southern and eastern parts of the state.

“There’s probably some bobcats coming in from from the west through Indiana,” says Wildlife Management Supervisor Brett Beatty of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Wildlife Division’s District 5. “Honestly, there’s no way to know just how much [trapping in Indiana] would impact our population directly, especially as our populations get more established here and have their own territories.”

He says it’s uncertain if hunting in those Indiana counties near Ohio could force bobcats to extend their territories into Ohio.

“I have full confidence in Indiana DNR to continue to monitor their population through their research and harvest data, and then we can see the results, and we’ll get a good feel for what’s happening over there,” he adds. “Through our sightings and reports that we receive — particularly on the border counties there — we can do a little side-by-side and see if there’s any impact.”

The most recent report from the state, dated September 2023, states the Division of Wildlife had 561 confirmed sightings of bobcats in 2021. Sightings are largely confirmed using trail or security cameras and roadkill reports.

Bobcats have been confirmed in 81 of Ohio’s 88 counties, including all counties in southwest Ohio. Warren County was the most recent to join the list, with the first confirmed sighting coming in 2021.

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The ODNR in 2018 considered reopening a bobcat trapping season but those plans were indefinitely put on hold after public opposition to the proposal. Bobcats were removed from Ohio’s threatened species list in 2014.

A 2023 report from researchers at Ohio University concluded the state’s bobcat population could withstand limited harvesting. It noted a high level of monitoring would be required to ensure the population remained stable.

More about bobcats

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, bobcats are generally solitary creatures. They eat rabbits, hares, rodents (squirrels, woodrats, mice, voles), deer, and less commonly, birds, reptiles, insects, and eggs.

Beatty says bobcats present minimal risk to your household pets.

“Typically, the only interactions I see would be folks with poultry, whether it be backyard chickens or ducks or something like that, that sometimes get predated by bobcats. Folks [should] make sure their pen is sound, that nothing can get in or they can’t get out, just doing good husbandry practice with your backyard birds,” he says.

They breed year-round, though most usually from December to May. Offspring born in the spring and summer are usually ready to head out on their own by fall or winter. The animals can weigh 15-30 pounds and be about 30-50 inches long, with short tails of about 4-5 inches.

You can report bobcat sightings using the ODNR Wildlife Reporting Tool.

Read more:

• Take a hike on the search for Ohio’s state amphibian
• LISTEN: This man has spent decades studying wolf behavior. He says we can learn a lot from them

As of February, Colorado had seen 10 human cases of bird flu since May 2024

Por Jaijongkit3:45 AM MDT on Mar 21, 2025

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• https://coloradosun.com/2025/03/21/can-backyard-chickens-spread-bird-flu-to-humans/

• Original Reporting
• References

The Trust Project

Yes.

Awoman in Wyoming was hospitalized in February after contracting avian influenza H5N1 from exposure through her backyard chicken flock. However, human infections from backyard poultry are generally rare. 

Avian flu can spread from birds to people through direct contact with infected birds, touching contaminated surfaces or inhaling the virus. Many infected birds do not show symptoms but remain contagious. Avian flu can also spread to dairy cattle, pigs, goats, cats and dogs. 

As of February, Colorado had seen 10 human cases of bird flu since May 2024. Nine came from workers exposed to commercial chicken farms and the last from a dairy farm. 

Nationwide, there have been 70 human cases of bird flu with one fatal case. There is no known human-to-human transmission, with most human cases seen in farm workers in contact with infected cattle and poultry. General risk of avian flu to the public remains low.

See full source list below.

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Bird flu was detected in 11 pet cats — both indoor and outdoor — the Colorado Department of Agriculture announced Thursday.

By: Katie Parkins

Posted 8:04 AM, Mar 21, 2025

and last updated 8:33 AM, Mar 21, 2025

Bird flu was detected in 11 pet cats — both indoor and outdoor — the Colorado Department of Agriculture announced Thursday.

Only one of those cats survived the infection. Domestic cats appear to be highly susceptible to Avian Influenza, which is why infections often result in death.

The bird flu cases in Colorado cats were linked to eating both raw pet food and raw poultry.

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To mitigate any further exposure, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment recommends against pet owners feeding raw poultry products to their domestic cats. Take extra precautions when handling raw pet food or raw poultry by washing hands and disinfecting surfaces those products touch.

‘That’s very rare. It’s so rare, there’s no exact numbers on it. It’s one in several thousand at least.’

Brian Broom

Mississippi Clarion Ledger

0:02

1:28

• A Mississippi turkey hunter harvested a rare white turkey on opening day of the season.
• The bird, believed to be leucistic, was spotted on trail cameras during deer season and had been seen on surrounding properties.
• Leucism is a condition that can cause a variation in colors of some animals, making them appear white or pale.

Opening day of Mississippi’s turkey season was March 15 and severe weather was moving into the state. However, at least one Mississippi hunter was prepared to sit through it, and he walked away with a rare, snow-white gobbler.

“That was a blessing from God,” said Glace Rone of Kosciusko. “You don’t see turkeys like that where I’m from.

“I’ve hunted my whole life, and I’ve heard about them, but I’ve never seen one. It’s like hunting a unicorn.”

Rone said the bird showed up in trail camera photos during the 2024-25 deer season and not just on the property that Rone was hunting. Rone said the bird had also been seen on surrounding properties.

“He’d been seen on a 4-mile stretch, so you can imagine how many people were after him,” Rone said. “I hated to kill such a beautiful animal. That’s God’s creation, but several other people were trying to kill him.”Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.

And hunters likely weren’t the only ones after the bird. Being white, he lacked the camouflage of normal coloration, making him more susceptible to becoming prey.

“We have bobcats,” Rone said. “We have coyotes. We have hawks. Seeing him is just a miracle.”

And on March 15, the miracle happened.

MS turkey hunting: Mississippi girl harvests rare silver-colored gobbler

Hunter bags rare white gobbler

Rone was in the woods before daylight. He said it was a pleasant morning, but severe weather was on the way.

“I’d planned to sit through it,” Rone said. “I’d brought snacks and drinks. I’d planned to sit through the storm.”

As determined as he was to bag a gobbler, bagging the white bird seemed like an unrealistic expectation.

“The last picture I had of him was in February,” Rone said. “I never expected in a million years to see this bird again.”

It was a quiet morning. Not only did Rone not see the white gobbler, he didn’t see any others, either. After about two hours of hunting, he decided to move to another ridge.

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Rone set up, did some light calling and scratched in the leaves around him. Within about 3 minutes, he was looking at the white gobbler. It was 50 yards away and coming straight toward Rone.

“I was speechless,” Rone said. “It was unbelievable. He just popped up. It’s something you’d never imagine, or I don’t, anyway.”

When the bird was 30 yards away, Rone pulled the trigger on his 20 gauge shotgun and his Apex Ammunition tungsten shot did the rest.

Again, Rone was in disbelief.

“That doesn’t happen, but it happened,” Rone said. “It happened so fast. I was just thanking God for that opportunity.”

Think the moon affects deer movement? Here’s what these bucks had to say about it

How rare is this white Mississippi wild turkey?

Rone had beaten the odds. Fortunately, he harvested the bird before the storm hit, too. But what exactly did he harvest?

The feathers on the turkey were white. Its beard, measuring 9 inches, was black. Its legs were pink and the nails and 3/4-inch spurs were white. Rone estimated the bird’s weight to be 17 pounds, which he said is average for the area.

“I’m pretty sure that’s a leucistic bird,” said Caleb Hinton, biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. “That’s very, very unusual.”

Leucism differs from albinism. Leucism is a condition that can cause a slight variation in colors of some animals or extreme differences, such as Rone’s white gobbler. However, in cases of albinism, there is no pigment at all.

One of the tell-tale signs is the black beard.

“That’s an indication it’s leucistic and not a full albino,” Hinton said.

So, how unusual is it?

“That’s very rare,” Hinton said. “It’s so rare, there’s no exact numbers on it. It’s one in several thousand at least.”

By Katie Dangerfield  Global News

Posted March 21, 2025 2:47 pm

 3 min read

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As bird flu continues to sweep through poultry farms, forcing the culling of millions of birds, United States Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is proposing a different approach: let the virus spread.

The unconventional idea has alarmed health officials, warning this “dangerous” method would likely kill more bids, devastate the U.S. poultry industry, and even increase the virus’s chances of spreading to humans.

Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity on March 11, Kennedy spoke about how the bird flu continues to spread through poultry farms, creating soaring egg prices.

Anytime the avian flu is detected on a poultry farm, the entire flock is slaughtered to help limit its spread. This is because the virus is incredibly contagious, spreading quickly among the flock.

This has led to hundreds of millions of chickens being culled.

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Scientists are still figuring out the best way to protect poultry when avian flu is detected on farms, but so far, culling the flock and stopping the virus in its tracks has been the most effective approach.

1:55Nearly seven million birds culled in B.C.’s Fraser Valley due to avian flu

However, Kennedy did not agree with this, instead suggesting the virus should rip through the flocks.

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“Should you cull those flocks?” he said. “You should let the disease go through them and identify the birds that survive, which are the birds that probably have a genetic inclination for immunity and those are the birds who should breed.”

Rocio Crespo, a poultry veterinarian at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, disagreed with the idea, warning this not only gives the bird flu a higher chance to spread to other flocks and animals, but humans too.

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“It is not right, it’s dangerous… it’s like putting Ebola in the middle of New York City and not isolating people,” she said.

Matthew Koci, a professor of immunology and virology at North Carolina State University’s poultry science department, echoed these sentiments.

The more animals the virus infects, he said, the more we are “rolling the dice” for a mutation to happen and turn into “the next pandemic.”

“It increases the risk of jumping to humans…. letting the virus rip through billions of chickens is giving Mother Nature more and more time to find the virus mutation that will jump to human and spread human to human,” he said.

Although rare, humans can become infected with avian flu, with the U.S. just reporting its first bird flu death earlier this year. Most of the human cases so far have been seen in those who have had prolonged contact with infected birds or dairy cows.

0:59Experts concerned about seasonal flu, bird flu cases mixing together

‘That’s not how it works’

There are other repercussions to letting the bird flu run its course.

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The virus is nearly 100 per cent fatal in birds. This means that if you let bird flu run through a flock, there will be no more birds left, Koci warned.

“There will be no more chicken industry, as 95 per cent of them will be dead and it will decades for the industry to populate. This will decimate reproduction.”

The genetic selection of finding immune birds isn’t as simple as it sounds, he added.

For decades, scientists have been working to figure out how to protect birds from influenza, and if selecting for a specific breed were possible, “we would have done that by now,” Koci added.

Koci believes RFK Jr.’s idea aligns with his stance on COVID-19 and measles, which essentially boils down to “let evolutionary selection run its course, and those who survive won’t have to worry about it anymore.”

“But no pathogen has ever gone away just because it ripped through a population,” Koci said. “That’s not how it works.”