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Japan’s Bird Flu Dilemma

 

 

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Over the past several weeks a small number of relatively rare, threatened, and legally protected Hooded Cranes have turned up carrying the H5N1 virus  at the national wildlife reserve in Izumi City, Kagoshima Prefecture  (see Japan: 5 Hooded Cranes Test Positive For H5N1).

 

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Of the roughly 10,000 Hooded Cranes in the world, roughly 80% are believed to over-winter in Izumi City.

 

Additionally, the bird flu virus has turned up in ducks, a swan, and at a poultry farm in Japan in recent weeks.  Other bird flu detections in migratory and wild birds have been made in South Korea during December, as well.

 

When bird flu breaks out in a poultry farm, the solution is clear cut – a culling of all infected and/or exposed birds.  

 

An option that is neither desirable – or likely even feasible  – when you’re talking about wild or migratory species.

 

And when the birds in question are a legally protected species, about all wildlife authorities can do is to try to separate sick or enfeebled birds from the rest of the population . . . . and hope the infection dies out.

 

Today, a long and highly informative report in the Daily Yomiuri on the limited options open to authorities when bird flu shows up in wild birds, and the concerns that large centralized bird sanctuaries like Izumi City actually increase the odds of seeing a species-endangering outbreak of avian flu.

 

 

 

Natural treasures carry avian flu / Rare migratory birds harboring virus this winter pose problems

Eiji Noyori and Koichi Yasuda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

An increase in the number of birds infected with avian flu in various locations across the country this winter has left experts at a loss about how to deal with the problem.

(Continue . . . )

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Bird Flu
H5N1
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