LOS ANGELES county CA under bird quarantine :(

[chickenE]

@denisenoelle I'm all the way on the east coast and upset about it too. I'm also surprised there hasn't been more outrage on this thread about mandatory euthanasia of pets (especially those which are isolated and enclosed). Disgusting this is considered a "solution".

 

[Gamefowl22]

 

[denisenoelle]

But wild birds are not the cause of an outbreak.
The cause of this outbreak was a prize cockfighting rooster that had VND coming in from Mexico.
Then large backyard bird flocks, cockfighting rings and their transient nature, freeranging of infected birds (like not in a backyard, meaning from property to property with no fences) and infected birds being moved all are the major contributors to this problem.
During an outbreak, limiting exposure to wild birds is only about trying to mitigate that variable. Mostly about infected poultry not giving it *more* to wild birds so they can pass it on more.

totally understand about euthanizing infected/exposed birds, birds kept in unclean conditions, etc. But going after indoor housepets where the chances of the bird getting sick are pretty minimal seems extreme. you wouldnt do this to dog or cat owners, they wouldnt stand for it. but theres this mentality that its “just a bird” so the government banging on your door and forcibly taking a pet that is perfectly healthy and poses barely any threat is A-OK

 

[chickenE]

One thousand percent agree @denisenoelle. I think you just hit the nail on the head.

 

[21hens-incharge]

totally understand about euthanizing infected/exposed birds, birds kept in unclean conditions, etc. But going after indoor housepets where the chances of the bird getting sick are pretty minimal seems extreme. you wouldnt do this to dog or cat owners, they wouldnt stand for it. but theres this mentality that its “just a bird” so the government banging on your door and forcibly taking a pet that is perfectly healthy and poses barely any threat is A-OK

I bet parrot owners won't go quietly into the night.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I think some of it has to do with industry. This disease threatens production birds and corporate elements. All hail the almighty dollar....

 

[IamRainey]

If your birds are not exposed to the fluids from contaminated birds they weren't exposed.

Keep them inside and enjoy them!

 

[chickenE]

The Secretary of Agriculture or head of CDFA is a cabinet position appointed by Governor Newsom. If I was in CA, I would contact your elected representative governor about the situation (may wait until the threat passes though to not call attention to my birds). From North Carolina, I plan to contact their office on Monday.

 

[Morrigan]

I could be totally wrong on this -- I don't live in the area and don't know what is happening on the ground. But, I haven't heard any stories of over-zealous killing of pet birds. From everything I've read, it seems like they are going door-to-door and euthanizing only when they believe it necessary. Again, I could be wrong, but I doubt they would insist on taking healthy pet canaries living fully inside one's home and having zero contact with other birds. The FAQ mentions mandatory euthanasia where infected birds share a property line or in part of a neighborhood where a lot of cases have been found.

It is a really horrible situation, but I think the end goal is to end the outbreak while killing as few birds as possible.

 

[Kathy Golla]

So far the only birds that have been euthanized are chickens. Maybe there are some turkeys in there too. I know they say “birds,” in the alert, but all the stories I have read about the euthanasia say chickens.
Same with the last outbreak.
How are we making the jump that exotics and say a button quail kept inside will be euthanized?
The quarantine only says don’t move other domesticated birds.
It’s the whole kind of herd mentality like with vaccines. If you get rid of the poultry around the perimeter of an outbreak, you increase the chance the outbreak will die off.
This may be an unpopular statement, but the commercial farms have had to kill 900,000 birds. And I think that’s only like 6 farms. Not that they are pets to those folks, but still.
Seems like they need another plan, though. Seems to me like going door to door hunting down backyard chicken pets (only a subset of the poultry population, I know), is taking up a lot of valuable resources. Also, scaring people that you will kill their pets is also a reason for some people to move birds that they might not (or might) know are infected.