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The president of the Mexican Hunting Federation died in Argentina after he shot a buffalo and “enraged” it, causing it to repeatedly ram him. Mario Alberto Canales Najjar, 64, was hunting in the province of Entre Rios, in the northeast of the country on Friday, October 7, police have confirmed. At first, the 1,100-kilo…
KENT COUNTY, Mich. — It’s the Fall season, which means you may have noticed or more deer out and about.
Fall means deer hunting season and mating season, so drivers need to be more alert as there’s typically a huge increase in vehicle-deer accidents in Kent County.
“I call myself the road kill specialist. The Deer Sheriff,” said Andy Albertson with theKent County Road Commission.
Albertson has been in charge of wildlife removal for 16 years, and he says it’s a…
“The hunter and his wife encountered the bear around 1 p.m. while hunting for upland birds in a creek bottom east of Choteau,” a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) news release states. “The bear charged out of thick brush at close range.”
FWP spokesperson Dave Hagengruber said aWashington state couple washunting in Teton County with a couple of their dogs in the river bottom when they saw some movement in a thick patch of brush…
It’s an all-too familiar scene, particularly in these pandemic times. Yet, this was no twist of Covid. Instead, it was the devastating impact of a new disease ravaging wildlife: highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
Rangers usually seen counting colonies swirling with seabirds were instead painstakingly collecting carcases of dead birds before bagging them up for incineration. It’s a devastating task going on across the islands and coastlines of Scotland and elsewhere in a battle to prevent more carnage from further infections.
The fear is that long-lived and slow-breeding seabirds like gannets and great skuas could see their numbers plummet and take decades to recover. Even greater are concerns that the disease could get into really rare species like red-necked phalaropes, dainty little shorebirds with a tenuous foothold at best.
The first signs of HPAI in Scottish seabirds were detected toward the end of the 2021 breeding season. Great skua colonies were found to be affected in Shetland, Orkney and St Kilda. The disease was then found in gannets at the national nature reserves of Noss and Hermaness.
Many seabird species have now tested positive for HPAI. By mid-July 2022, infected birds had been found at more than 140 sites across Scotland involving 28 different species.
It’s a tough lesson in how our food choices affect everything else. HPAI, which now regularly devastates poultry populations around the world, didn’t originate in wild birds.
Instead, it emerged in farmed birds during the massive expansion of the poultry industry in China and east Asia at the end of the 20th century.
Now, chickens and wild birds alike have become victims of this most devastating disease.
The rise in intensive chicken farming has provided the perfect breeding ground for new and more deadly strains of disease. The explosive growth of cheap chicken on supermarket shelves is now coming home to roost.
Evolution of the virus
The low pathogenic version of the avian influenza virus is common in birds, both domesticated and wild.
Its evolution into a much more deadly form is due to the huge numbers of birds kept at close quarters in the global poultry industry.
The science behind the emergence of dangerous disease strains isn’t complicated.
These days, most chickens are crammed in their tens of thousands in each steely-looking barn. A ‘farm’ can now have any number of these long, low buildings lined up in rows.
Keeping too many animals in too small a space, often in dark, filthy and overcrowded conditions, provides the conditions a virus like avian influenza needs to spread and evolve.
As the virus races through the flock, new – and potentially more deadly – strains can and do emerge.
Contrary to what some in the farming industry want us to believe, keeping farmed animals indoors increases the risk of disease.
With the highly pathogenic bird flu virus now rampant across Britain, Europe and Asia, farms of all shapes and sizes are being hit.
According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), by far the most common reason for the disease spread in poultry is through farm-to-farm transmission. In other words, it’s being carried on the trucks and boots of the industry.
The shocking reality is that HPAI in Britain and Europe could become endemic in wild birds, causing immense damage to wildlife already fighting for survival.
As it is, farmland bird species have plummeted in recent decades due to the rise of intensive agriculture. Skylarks, corn buntings and lapwings are among the species particularly affected.
Spreading to wild mammals
Now, that same farm intensification is devastating a wider range of wildlife previously thought out of harm’s reach, such as seabirds on remote islands.
According to NatureScot, great skua, gannet and guillemot have been hardest hit. Surveys suggest Shetland’s gannet numbers have dropped by a quarter. Great Skuas in Orkney have seen declines of up to 85 per cent.
There is worrying evidence that HPAI is starting to spread into wild mammals such as foxes and seals. All of which underscores how we’ve created a world out of balance and increasingly out of control.
As a lifelong conservationist, I’ve long believed in the importance of nature reserves in giving nature a home. And I still do.
Yet, this latest tragedy, now playing out across some of the remotest and wildest of locations, shows nothing is safe anymore. Even the best protected wildlife is vulnerable. It’s a big lesson in how everything is connected; that the well-being of society and the ecosystem we depend on is interlinked with the health of farmed animals.
Thankfully, HPAI rarely affects people, at least for now. Official government advice is that avian influenza is “primarily a disease of birds and the risk to the general public’s health is very low.”
The bird flu virus is not easily transmitted between people, but scientists have suggested that just a few mutations would allow it to become as infectious as seasonal flu.
What is becoming clear is that the intensive poultry industry’s damage to wild birds and potentially other wildlife is growing year by year.
Cheap chicken on supermarket shelves looks set to become one of the most important global threats to biodiversity, and a possible pandemic threat to people too.
Poultry farmers have called for a UK-wide housing order to be brought in as soon as possible, after an upsurge in bird flu outbreaks in the past month.
A compulsory housing order for all poultry and captive birds in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex came into force on Wednesday. It applies to everyone who keeps birds – both commercial flock keepers and non-commercial premises such as back yards, hobby flocks or pets.
It comes after a significant increase in bird flu cases in the east of England region, with 27 outbreaks in the past month alone across the three counties. Christmas goose producers are among those to have been badly affected.
The UK’s chief vet, Christine Middlemiss, said she expected to see the number of bird flu cases on farms to continue to rise over the coming months as migratory birds return to the UK.
In the past month there have also been outbreaks in Somerset, Oxford, Staffordshire, North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Devon and Cheshire.
In November last year, the chief veterinary officers for Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland agreed to bring in a compulsory housing order across the UK. This was only lifted by the chief vets from the four devolved nations in May this year.
Farming groups are calling on for the new regional compulsory housing order to be extended across the whole of the UK as soon as possible.
“The sheer persistence of avian influenza over the past year, coupled with soaring energy and feed costs, has put the whole British poultry sector under huge emotional and financial pressure. Given the recent rise in avian influenza cases and the distress they cause for farming families, the implementation of housing measures in the east of England is a necessary step.
“The number one priority for poultry farmers has always been the health and welfare of their flock … That is why the National Farmers Union is now urging the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to consider expanding the regional housing measures on a national basis to reflect any increase in the levels of risk across the country,” said NFU poultry board chair James Mottershead.
The British Poultry Council said a compulsory housing order for all farmed birds was necessary “as soon as possible to prioritise the wellbeing of our farmers, the viability of their businesses and the safety of all birds”.
UK egg producers also said they would like to see the initial compulsory housing order extended across the UK.
The European Commission has put forward plans for scrapping the time limit on the marketing of eggs as free range if chickens are forced to be housed to reduce the risk of outbreaks of bird flu.
Over the last year, the UK has faced its largest ever outbreak of bird flu with more than 160 cases confirmed since late October 2021.
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“We’ve been seeing unprecedented levels of the virus around the UK this year, and usually numbers increase as winter approaches, so the situation could get even worse,” said Prof Wendy Barclay, head of the department of infectious disease at Imperial College London.
“The outbreak is being closely monitored by the Animal and Plant Health Agency and Defra, but it is clear that farmed birds that are exposed to wild birds are vulnerable,” she added.
Defra said any decision on when to reintroduce national housing measures would be based on the latest scientific and ornithological evidence and veterinary advice.
The UK Health Security Agency continue to advise the risk to public health from the virus is very low and the Food Standards Agency advice remains unchanged, that avian influenzas pose a very low food safety risk for UK consumers. Properly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, are safe to eat.
They’re vital for the ecosystem, play a crucial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and, for bird lovers, are an ecotourism delight. But in Cyprus, where prolific use of poison bait has made the Griffon vulture virtually extinct, campaigners are taking action.
“Island-wide, we had just eight,” says Melpo Apostolidou at BirdLife Cyprus, which is coordinating the EU-funded life with vultures project to boost what was once a thriving population. “That’s the lowest number of any country in Europe.”
The battle to revive the Mediterranean island’s most threatened bird of prey was turbocharged last week when eight Griffons, imported from Spain, were released into the wild. For ornithologists, the move has not come a moment too late. “There is no time to lose,” says Apostolidou. “Restocking is vital. We released 15 in September and will be bringing in another 15 next month before releasing them as well in the spring.”
A Griffon vulture flies inside a holding pen before its release in the highlands of the Limassol district, in southern Cyprus. Photograph: Roy Issa/AFP/Getty Images
Changing farming techniques and decreasing staples of available food are partly to blame for the decline of a bird whose scavenging role as a recycler of natural carcasses is deemed essential. So, too, is the loss of natural habitats and collisions with overhead power lines.
In Cyprus, a culture of using banned poisons to reduce perceived pests, especially foxes and dogs, is also seen as the greatest cause of the Griffon becoming critically endangered.
Over the past year, numbers have dropped precipitously as the scavengers have fed off poisoned carrion. “It’s a serious problem,” said Nikos Kassinis, a senior officer at the island’s Game and Fauna Service.
Wildlife vet Constantinos Antoniou holds a Griffon vulture outside a holding pen before attaching a GPS tracker to it. Photograph: Peter Martell/AFP/Getty Images
After centuries of having Griffon vulture colonies nationwide, there is now only one nesting colony high up in the Episkopi cliffs in the British sovereign base area.
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Kassinis said authorities had also stepped in with the Game and Fauna Service setting up feeding stations for the birds. Earlier this year dog units – border collies specially trained to detect poison bait and poisoned victims – began patrolling rural areas.
Replenishment of the species would be good for nature and indicative of the local ecosystem’s overall health, conservationists claim. Recent studies have shown that vultures not only provide what the EU project described as “a cost-effective and environmentally beneficial carcass disposal service,” but play a central role in regulating the spread of diseases such as rabies.
Spain has Europe’s largest population of Griffon vultures, with the latest imports to be released from an acclimatisation aviary in the mountains north of the coastal city of Limassol. “We’ll be monitoring them closely,” said Apostolidou, adding that the Griffon have been tagged with GPS transmitters to track their movements.
Andreas Christoforou, of the Game and Fauna Service, stands with his dog Sophie, which is specially trained to search for illegal poison. Photograph: Peter Martell/AFP/Getty Images
“The Spanish birds are juveniles, and it is very important that they mix and learn from the local birds. So far we’re pleased to report that although it’s still early, some of them are doing just that.”
Tales of the prowess of Griffon vultures are legendary. Ornithologists recorded one bird, named after the wine god Dionysus, watching over the egg of a would-be hatchling in the Greek Rhodope Mountains for 33 days after losing his female mate at the time of incubation. The feat was seen as indicative of the vultures’ parental skills.
In Greece as in Bulgaria, local populations, once also dangerously low, have gradually been restored. But with numbers so down in Cyprus, campaigners say they cannot afford to be sanguine.
“Imagine if we hadn’t brought in any birds at all,” says Apostolidou. “The Griffon vulture would be extinct, but dealing with the poisoning problem must also now be a priority.”
The injured hunter was rescued by a medical helicopter. The hunter’s condition has not been released.
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