With bird flu outbreaks among flocks in the USdevastating farmers and the poultry industry, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is raising the red flag that people who live or work with the animals need to be extra careful, as the country nears a record-breaking number of sick birds.
Since early 2022 when the outbreak began,more than 49 million birdsin nearly all states (46) have either died because they were infected with bird flu, or were culled (killed) because they may have been exposed or infected, the CDC said in a Nov. 3 announcement. In 2015, a record 50.5 million birds died in a 21-state…
Four years ago, Morris J. Alexie had to move out of the house his father built in Alaska in 1969 because it was sinking into the ground and water was beginning to seep into his home.
“The bogs are showing up in between houses, all over our community. There are currently seven houses that are occupied but very slanted and sinking into the ground as we speak,” Alexie said by phone from Nunapitchuk, a village of around 600 people. “Everywhere is bogging up.”
What was once grassy tundra is now riddled with water, he said. Their land is crisscrossed by 8-foot-wide boardwalks the community uses to get from place to place. And even some of the boardwalks have begun to sink.
A hunter was rescued after officials found him dangling upside down from a tree in Massachusetts. Sudbury police officers say a hunter called 911 the morning of Thursday, Nov. 10, to report a tree stand malfunction in the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge that left him stuck in a tree. Using the phone coordinates from the 911 call, police and fire personnel used their drone unit and utility vehicle to locate the stranded man, a news release from the department said.
After about 15 minutes, officials located the hunter. He was suspended about three to four feet in the air. Officials say the hunter was uninjured and brought down from the tree safely.
Hunting draws over half a million people to New York’s forests and fields each year. Here’s three topics of conversation New Yorker hunters should know about before heading afield this fall.
Hunting is accessible to anyone in New York with a license as the state offers thousands of acres of public lands open to hunters. Deer season provides many with an inflation-proof source of meat.
Hunting serves an important ecological function to keep deer populations in check. Overabundance is disrupting the regeneration of forests and leaving deer more susceptible to diseases like CWD.
Predators like wolves and mountain lions once kept deer numbers in balance. Genetic testing confirmed a canid killed during the 2021 coyote hunting season was actually a wolf. Its origins are unknown.
It’s a tradition that draws over half a million people to New York’s fields…
(Missoula Current)Wolf advocates asked a Montana judge to halt the state’s wolf hunting and trapping season while their lawsuit against the state is being considered.
Late Thursday afternoon,attorneys forWildEarthGuardians and Project Coyote filedin Lewis and Clark County courtfora temporary restraining order andinjunctionto stopMontana’scurrent wolf hunt and prevent the wolf trapping season from starting on Nov. 28.
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“As of the filing of this motion, 55 wolves have died at the hands of Montana hunters, including one near the border of Yellowstone National Park. When the trapping season opens on November 28, this killing will accelerate as new dispatch methods enter the field,” attorney RobFarris-Olsen wrote in therequest.
The “new dispatch methods” include neck snares, which were mandated by the…
Montana’s next legislative session begins in January of 2023.
As bad as this last well-orchestrated attack was on wildlife,we are anticipating 2023 will be worse. If you can even believe it!
Anti-wildlife legislators and their special interests in Montana are much empowered. They will use the excuse that they have to step up their unethical and unnecessary war declared on wolvesbecause they did not kill anywhere near all the wolves they are mandatedto do so from the passing of Senator Bob Brown’s SB314 in 2021. Grizzliesare earmarked to blame and will…
PARIS: France has put the country on “high” alert for bird flu, forcing poultry farms to keep birds indoors to contain the spread of the highly contagious disease, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday (Nov 10).
The European Union’s second-largest poultry producer has detected a fresh rise in bird flu outbreaks in the past months after this year seeing its worst-ever wave of the disease, with about 22 million birds culled.
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Between Aug 1 and Nov 8, 49 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), commonly called bird flu, were detected on French farms, with a large and rising number of cases found in domesticated fowl in backyards and among wild birds, the ministry said.
“In a context marked by the unprecedented persistence of the virus in the environment and strong migratory activity of wild birds, it is essential to strengthen preventive measures to avoid contamination of poultry farms,” it said in a statement.
Although the virus is harmless in food, its spread is a concern for governments and the poultry industry due to the devastation it can cause to flocks, the possibility of trade restrictions and the risk of human transmission.
The “high” risk level, which was previously set at “moderate”, implies that all poultry should be kept inside on farms and additional security measures taken, including for hunting, to avoid the spread of the disease.
Europe has experienced its worst bird flu crisis ever this year, with nearly 50 million head of poultry culled, and the persistence of the virus over the summer has raised the risk of widespread infections next season, the EU’s Food Safety Agency (EFSA) said last month.
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Bird flu usually strikes during the autumn and winter months. It is transmitted by infected faeces from migrating wild birds or direct contact with contaminated feed, clothing and equipment, or in the air.
The state has canceled all live bird shows and exhibitions, swaps or auctions in an effort to prevent the spread of bird flu, which has hit four commercial and backyard flocks since late October.
The Iowa Department of Agriculture issued an order Thursday that orders all events where birds will co-mingle until the threat of highly pathogenic avian influenza has passed. The order begins immediately and will continue a minimum of 30 days — or 30 days after the last confirmed bird flu outbreak.
The state issued a similar order this spring, canceling live-bird events from March 23 to June 3.
Since March, bird flu has hit 23 Iowa commercial and backyard flocks, forcing producers to kill about 15.5 million chickens, turkeys and other birds to prevent the spread of the deadly disease. More birds have been destroyed in Iowa due to the virus than any other state in the nation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows.
In the past two weeks, bird flu has hit two commercial egg-laying facility in north central Iowa’s Wright County, forcing producers to destroy 2.1 million hens to contain the deadly disease.
Officials say the outbreaks are tied to the seasonal migration of wild birds, which can carry the disease without showing apparent symptoms. The virus can spread to domestic flocks from the droppings of wild birds.
Exposing the Big Game 
