Fighting Bird flu

What if they took your rooster?

I’ve been pondering that ever since I read the bulletin board outside of the CHC x-ray room while waiting for my son. I’ll read anything when I’m bored.

There was a memorandum about the Avian Influenza plan. As usual, I immediately thought of roosters. I know what to do when you find bird flu: first we kill all of the chickens*. Slaughter them for miles around. Burn or bury them. That doesn’t leave much room for error on an island the size of Saipan.

The memo didn’t say this, but that seems to be standard practice. Can you imagine the reaction to that reaction? Cockfighters have a lot of time and money tied up in their birds. They’re hard to replace, given that the sport is illegal in the U.S. except for the Marianas. (Somebody might have to correct me about Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa.)

We’re probably on borrowed time. I thought of this again because I saw some feathered friends today who seem to be migrants. Because of our location, they’re probably Asian tourists.

Let’s just hope sick birds get reported. I’m a little worried that someone might just get rid of the carcass to protect the rest of his roosters. We might not learn about it until there’s a human case, and the mortality is high. At least the hospital would catch it quickly. They’ve got a plan.


*Apologies to Shakespeare, and lawyers.