Facts About Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza

This is a picture of a couple of geese I saw on the way home Wednesday afternoon. Last Sunday morning there was a mallard duck sitting in my lawn. I thought to myself, how could such innocent-looking birds devastate the poultry industry in Minnesota? The Minnesota Board of Animal Health is sure that it was migratory waterfowl that brought the highly pathogenic avian influenza to Minnesota.

The disease is deadly to turkeys and chickens. Imagine what it is like to be a producer in these times. Your turkeys are fine tonight and tomorrow morning when you go to the barn some of your turkeys are dead. You call the vet, take the samples and send off to the lab. By the time you get the official confirmation in a couple of days, almost all of your turkeys are dead. Any that are still alive will be euthanized. All of the turkeys will then be composted right in the barn. It will be months before you can be back in production again.

Let me point out that this disease does not affect people, dogs, cats or other livestock. Only animals with feathers. In addition, there is no concern about food safety. Turkey is safe to eat. There is a lot of misinformation on some websites. Some groups opposed to animal agriculture are using this crisis as an opportunity to promote their agendas. The best sources of scientific information would include the websites of the Minnesota Board of Animal Health, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture or the Minnesota Department of Public Health.