Editor,
Avian flu has been all over the news for a number of months now. The consensus seems to be that we are due to have a worldwide pandemic of the flu that will result in the death of millions of people.
While H5N1 bird flu hasn't been found in the United States, in 2004 we had a number of confirmed cases of H5N2 bird flu in Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware and Texas, among other states. Thousands of chickens died during this outbreak. These incidents prove that bird flu can come to this country, and it is only a matter of chance that we were infested with H5N2 and not the more dangerous H5N1 strain.
There are several things we can do to help prevent bird flu from becoming a threat in our country.
First, we have to do away with cockfighting. It is illegal in 48 states, but is still practiced in many of them. In Thailand, the government has put a moratorium on cockfighting in many areas because they realize there is a link between this barbarism and bird flu. The Philippines will not let roosters from Texas into their country for the purpose of fighting because they are afraid we will introduce bird flu into their country. How is cockfighting a threat? Those who fight these birds attach razor-sharp knives and gaffs to the legs of the roosters to guarantee the flow of blood and bodily fluids, which fly everywhere.
Another way to decrease the chances of bird flu getting a foothold in our country is to make sure all of the factory farms that produce our chickens treat the birds well and keep them healthy. Common sense would tell us that healthy birds are far less likely to get bird flu or any other disease than chickens that are tortured and abused by our larger corporate poultry companies.
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One way to get this to happen is if we all eat less chicken. How often have you heard the phrase, "It tastes like chicken?" There are lots of things that "taste like chicken," and maybe we should be eating them, instead of the real things.
Chicken consumption is down by almost 40 percent in some European markets. It appears that the Europeans are being proactive, as are some Asian countries both in limiting the consumption of chicken and prohibiting cockfighting.
I wrote to President Bush and several senators and representatives requesting that a moratorium be put on cockfighting in the two states where it is legal - New Mexico and Louisiana - and that it be treated as a federal felony in the other states where it is illegal.
I also wrote to Wal-Mart and asked it, as the largest retailer in the world, to make sure its poultry suppliers treat the birds humanely and keep them healthy to help limit the chances of the spread of the disease. I suspect Wal-Mart will do just that if more people contact them.
Richard "Bugman" Fagerlund
UNM staff
