Bird Flu In Scotland

[black angel]

I heard they had 15 other birds they were testing.
I just feel sorry for the poultry keepers, the people who rely on these birds for a living. Then theres the people who raise wild game birds too and the people who have chickens as pets.

 

[grahamsokel]

well i only live 45miles from the scottish borders and i have to say i am worried and cant make fun of this at all ,I keep Chinese Geese,saxony ducks and Muscovy ducks and most of them where hand reared and are Pets.I also have white doves in the garden and 2 african greys in the house.

 

[Saedcantas]

To be honest, I found watching this evenings 10 o'clock news nothing short of hilarious.

Seeing exactly how pathetic the media in this country really is amused me, I sat there and asked my two completely non-biological housemates if they knew why there was a big green sphere with purple circles and red spikes on it behind the cheif veterinarian? Of course they didnt, but an artists impression of the H5N1 virus was still there as big as the bloody moon simply to cause fear over the unknown. Cheap tricks sell papers.

Sadly the public feel they arent being given enough information, whereas they are, it's just they dont understand it. People think eating chicken will infect you with "bird flu" and people are being led to believe that if your cat or dog catches it then it can automatically pass it on to you. Already the news readers are talking in that tone of blame, asking various pretend experts why they think this wasnt confirmed faster than in 7 days, demanding to know why the scientists at the facility which tested the swan were not working at the weekend!!! All it's really about so far is who can we blame for some birds flying here already with a disease that we had no way of preventing happening. I can bet you someone's resignation will be being called for soon enough, that always solves everything apparently.

The long and short of it is, thusfar there is nothing to be afraid of and there is no way that any of us can medically prepare for a possible mutation that has not occurred yet. The most you can do is restrict your cats and dogs access to the outside and that is all.

Sorry everyone rant over! B)

P.S: Sorry Graham I probably sounded horribly callous there! So long as you follow the recommended guidelines and even if your birds are outdoors, they should be in an enclosed area covered over with netting so that no wild bird can come in contact with them, until you're ordered to bring them indoors you are doing your best I honestly hope that no ones pets do fall foul of this potential disease.

 

[Synirr]

First it was West Nile, then SARS (or was that the other way around?), now it's bird flu. Everyone keeps saying that if it mutates we're all doomed and it'll reach Black Plague proportions... but what we seem to be forgetting is that Plague spread so quickly thanks to the poor sanitation of the time. Yeah, sure, some countries might be screwed, but in more developed nations where your average person doesn't have a lot of close contact with poultry birds, there really isn't that much to worry about. The easiest way for it to mutate would be for it to combine with a strain of human flu, but there's no guarantee that this genetic combination would even be viable, and if it were, that it would have the same death rate as the current strain. It might be no worse than "regular" flu for all we know.

 

[Captain Retardo]

The bird-flu aint gonna do us in! It is the ebola virus that will kill you all!

 

[Synirr]

Pfft, they've been predicting for a while now that AIDs will go airborne during our lifetimes.

 

[black angel]

Heard this from someone but apparently the government a few days before all this happened were talking about a dummy run on bird flu and seeing how everyone handled the situation, from the general public, the media and the boffins, and then all this.
Have no idea how true that is but it was a scientist that found the bird....

 

[Fighterfish]

I heard they had 15 other birds they were testing.
I just feel sorry for the poultry keepers, the people who rely on these birds for a living. Then theres the people who raise wild game birds too and the people who have chickens as pets.

Hi,
I keep 13 chickens as pets and love them as if people love there dogs,cats,fish etc.. They never come into contcat with wild birds in their cage however, they do when we let them out. So, if bird flu comes down south we will just have to confine them in thier cage. Also, i haven't heard aboutculling small amounts of birds like mine. But if we are ordered to keep them inside not just in their cages. Then sadly We will have to kill them as we have no space indoors. But hey guys lets keep on smiling and hope it doesnt come to that.
Thanks

 

[grahamsokel]

well the tests on the others came back negative my geese and ducks have a 17ft x 10 ft shed with window and a mesh door that they get locked in on a night but free roam over 10 acres of land during the day.If it comes to the point they have to stay in they will but not sure how long i could keep 5 chinese geese 6 saxony ducks and 3 muscovies shut in for

 

[guppy_man]

this bird flu is really getting to me, i swear this morning when i looked in the mirror i had a beak lol and this morning i had a feather in my hair lol

seriously though, it doesnt bother me that much, like someone said there is no way im going to stop eating chicken, just had a KFC now lol and it was gurrrrd

 

[Dany]

think in the summer when all the migrant birds like house matins and swallows get here.

 

[x_amanda_x]

My dad works in a lab renknowned for excellent standards in New Zealand and they have started with all this "prepare for the bird flu" crap. My dad recons that it wont get ANYWHERE near as bad as they make it out to be...but i guess the media has to live off something.
Dont worry guys and remember,

dont drink chicken blood.


Amanda

 

[blitztidus]

The bird-flu aint gonna do us in! It is the ebola virus that will kill you all!

no, it will be THE COMMON COLD (did anyone else hear about that one )

 

[boozybears]

The thing is, if you look back through history every so often there was a large pandemic flu outbreak that killed millions of people. The black plague was one of them. The most recent was the Spanish Flu in 1928. Historically speaking, we're due for another one right about now. No one knows or can predict where it will start or in what form it will take. Right now the world is watching the bird flu because it seems the most likely cause... if it mutates into a strain that can be passed from birds to humans (which is has done already in a few rare cases). They already know that it will take 6+months to develop an antidote or cure for the flu and in this day and age of global travelling etc they predict it could take a matter of weeks to make it's way around the world.

I for one am not going to start to panic over it, stop eating chicken or stay indoors everyday lol..,.. but common sense prevails. You do what you do everyday to prevent any type of flu.. wash your hands constantly, especially before eating or touching your face.

~edited cuz of really bad grammar lol

 

[Dany]

*dont sniff ducks!