MaxedOutMama
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Dying Geese In Brunswick, GA
Earlier this year I posted about odd bird deaths in our area, including one Canadian goose. This is south central GA. There were also multiple reports of seabird deaths running from the coast of GA up through the Carolinas. If you see any unusual cases of dying birds in your area, please call local health authorities. Not that they'll listen to the first few, but after a while they'll get a clue. Here is a thread from CurEvents.com discussing various die-offs of birds, with many in the SE.
Today I saw this report of dying Canadian geese (dated July 13th) in The Brunswick News. Brunswick is on the southern coast of GA:
Today I saw this report of dying Canadian geese (dated July 13th) in The Brunswick News. Brunswick is on the southern coast of GA:
Cooper, who lives near several small ponds in Cypress Run subdivision, off Old Cypress Mill Road on the northern edge of Brunswick, was used to seeing Canada geese about this time of year. But not dead ones....If you are in GA, I suppose these are the people to contact. Something is going on.
By mid-day Tuesday, Bechtold said the toll of dead geese was up to 16. Another 21 were swimming in the pond behind Bechtold's house; she guessed that it wouldn't be long before some of them die, too.
David Mixon, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division, said he collected four of the dead birds and delivered them to the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study, a state-federal cooperative organization in Athens that specializes in wildlife disease. There, the birds will be tested to determine the cause of death. But results won't be back until the end of this week or sometime next week.
Comments:
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I wonder if there is a 'command central' that aggregates all this? I'd hate to think that there is no response team to all this.
SC&A, there is not. I tried to report the bird deaths in my area and was told that West Nile testing had been terminated. If you click on the CurEvents thread you will see that other people had the same experience.
It seems the only way you can get such outbreaks investigated is to contact the wild life department or the equivalent in your area.
Under the circumstances, it does seem a bit odd. Sooner or later the infected wild birds in Asia will carry the disease out. In fact, there are reports of bird flu now from Siberia.
On the other hand, maybe the authorities are just taking a fatalistic position that it can't be stopped and we will just have to deal with it when it comes.
However, I think it would be worth the money to see which strains pop up in wild bird populations and develop appropriate tests for them. I would think that basis of knowledge would be important in detecting and containing a human - to - human outbreak.
It seems the only way you can get such outbreaks investigated is to contact the wild life department or the equivalent in your area.
Under the circumstances, it does seem a bit odd. Sooner or later the infected wild birds in Asia will carry the disease out. In fact, there are reports of bird flu now from Siberia.
On the other hand, maybe the authorities are just taking a fatalistic position that it can't be stopped and we will just have to deal with it when it comes.
However, I think it would be worth the money to see which strains pop up in wild bird populations and develop appropriate tests for them. I would think that basis of knowledge would be important in detecting and containing a human - to - human outbreak.
I wonder if that's the official line- that we needn't worry.
It remains inconceivable to me that given the bio-terror and pandemic implications, there is no central command.
If there really isn't such a clearing house, we ought to be demaninding one- and soon.
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It remains inconceivable to me that given the bio-terror and pandemic implications, there is no central command.
If there really isn't such a clearing house, we ought to be demaninding one- and soon.
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