LOS ANGELES county CA under bird quarantine :(

[Eric Vey]

I think the word you are looking for is "improper." Unlawful means that a legislative body has passed a law saying that an improper act is against the law.

Now we can argue about whether tests are so accurate that they can be used with surgical precision to remove diseased birds while leaving others alone. Last I read about this, they are not.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

You are right, improper is a better word to use.

 

[Kiki]

I remember reading a letter from the state vet...something along the lines of certain areas/zones where all birds were going to be killed no matter what they tested.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I remember reading a letter from the state vet...something along the lines of certain areas/zones where all birds were going to be killed no matter what they tested.

Yes that would have been the 3 miles around the ground zero for the disease.

 

[Kiki]

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/animal_health/newcastle_disease_info.html
I'm not seeing a specific mileage but what I was remembering is still there:

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Yes that would have been the 3 miles around the ground zero for the disease.

3 miles seems completely arbitrary to me. What is that distance supposed to represent?

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

3 miles seems completely arbitrary to me. What is that distance supposed to represent?

 

[Eric Vey]

3 miles seems completely arbitrary to me. What is that distance supposed to represent?

I don't doubt that three miles is arbitrary. We live with arbitrary numbers all the time. Who says 90 is an "A"? Why not 23?

From what I read, this is a fairly uncommon disease that has been treated in the past by 3 mile eradication which has made it uncommon. There is no treatment and no cure, tests are not reliable, so eradication is the only option.

It's not reasonable to complain about the distance unless you want to live with this disease for the next 20 years while studies and counter studies are conducted which turn out to say it's not three, but 10 miles.

I don't want to live with this disease. I want to keep it uncommon.

 

[Morrigan]

I realize it's easy for me to say, because I am not in the quarantine area, but picking a buffer zone and eliminating potential disease carriers within that zone seems a prudent thing to do. Could it (literally) be overkill? Possibly. But if they guess wrong and leave flocks in place, potentially many more birds could die if the infection spreads.

It is truly horrible for those in the mandatory kill zones and my heart goes out to them. I can't imagine how hard it must be to see pet chickens killed, not because they are infected, but simply as a precautionary measure. As other people have said, if the disease spreads, and I find myself in a mandatory cull area, I will kill my chickens myself, rather than trust the task to anyone else.

I think what is also upsetting to many people is the knowledge that a few irresponsible people were most likely the cause of this. From the government reports it seems like only a tiny fraction of the positive cases have been in "non-commercial laying chickens", yet law abiding chicken owners have had to see their flocks destroyed to help stop a problem created by others. However necessary it may be, it just plain stinks, and I can understand why emotions are running high.

Finally, I wish there was more transparency from the government as to what a "backyard exhibition chicken" is. If it is true, as at least one article I read suggested, that it is referring to game cocks and the disease is overwhelming found in large rooster flocks, I would like that to be acknowledged. Not because I enjoy pointing fingers, but because I don't like the perception being created that "backyard chickens" are a public health and safety problem. Along that vein, I've seen articles wringing hands over how children are getting salmonella poisoning from backyard flocks. I don't want this horrible disease being cited as a reason why all backyard chickens should be banned or excessively regulated. Also, if the disease is being most widely spread by the sale and fighting of roosters, I would like to know that the government is directing proportionate resources on curtailing those activities, so that the sacrifices people are making with their own flocks to maintain the quarantine will not have been for naught.

Really praying that they are getting this under control now, and that the end is in sight.

 

[Eric Vey]

, I would like to know that the government is directing proportionate resources on curtailing those activities, so that the sacrifices people are making with their own flocks to maintain the quarantine will not have been for naught.

Boy, do I agree with that. Also that illegal alien chickens are not being imported from Mexico, which also makes all these people's loss for naught.