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| image source: pixnio.com |
How many media outlets will even inform their readers about the latest avian flu outbreaks in the USA? The links below from Reuters and APHIS touch on the current news. Thousands #turkeys have been recently killed (I believe the jargon is "depopulated") and composted in Indiana, as well as thousands of chickens in the vicinity. It is highly contagious among fowl - not people - so the routine is to euthanize to prevent spread. There were huge euthanization actions taken in previous years, e.g., 2020, 2016, and 2015 (search TheGuardian.com and other sources for details). The financial loss as a result of outbreaks, protocols, and loss of "product" is significant. It would be much easier on the heart, environment and economy to raise vegetables.
Photos which press may include in such cases sometimes portray single "farmed" birds in the great outdoors or some other unrealistic scene. Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) are horror shows. And that is just the USA. It is likely unimaginably worse in some other countries. This is a hellish existence for turkeys, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cows, minks and many other species. For more information on CAFOs see AnimalEquality ( https://animalequality.org/news/why-factory-farming-is-the-largest-cause-of-animal-abuse-in-history/ ), the Center for Disease Control, and the Rachel Carson Institute for starters.
