SOB save our birds

[MROO]

OTOH, euthanizing for the safety of all is VERY MUCH the question.

Absolutely! That's what I meant. There is no argument about the euthanasia part of the equation. Unfortunately, that's a "given." The real issue here is how can we, as a community dedicated to helping poultry owners and their charges, help ensure that it's done properly? And by "properly," I mean humanely ... for both the chickens AND their owners!

 

[MROO]

From another contributor to the SOB page:

*I am afraid to leave my house
*I am afraid to come back
*I panic when I hear voices outside
*I panic when cars stop outside
*I panic when I hear my one of my girls clucking in her pen
*I cry when I hear my rooster crow
*I cry when they look at me
*My heart sinks when I see any of my healthy birds who have only known kindness and trust us with their lives.
*I cry knowing that soon they will be terrified and confused as they are brutally and inhumanely killed.
*I struggle to sleep as in my mind the killers are terrorizing and murdering my birds.
*I wake feeling sick and depressed knowing this is what evil is coming for them.
*I struggle to keep my mind straight at work, and make stupid mistakes. My boss looks at me just as helpless and assures me she will pray and light a candle at church for me and my birds.

How is this right? That they can terrorize us like this?!?

Even though I can't imagine taking a life (I know, dumb, because I eat meat .. but I don't have to kill it, myself!) I think I would have to take it into my own hands and humanely dispatch them before the "authorities" came ... after saving as many fertile eggs as I could!

 

[danceswithronin]

Even though I can't imagine taking a life (I know, dumb, because I eat meat .. but I don't have to kill it, myself!) I think I would have to take it into my own hands and humanely dispatch them before the "authorities" came ... after saving as many fertile eggs as I could!

If I knew with certainty that people were coming to euthanize my birds, I would absolutely do it myself before they had the chance.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

Found a 2018 USDA report on Newcastle and bird flu:

http://www.usaha.org/upload/Committee/TransDisPoultry/17_Torchetti_NVSL_Report_2018.pdf

 

[Fishkeeper]

You can bring your birds inside. They have to get a proper warrant to come into your fenced-in property and house, especially your house. Don't even open the door for them without a warrant.

 

[SOB Delores]

I attached my UC Davis labs. My birds were healthy. The last email I had from state vet, stated no action taken until we spoke.
That was Thur at 7:56 pm
Fri at approximately 3pm kill squad at my home

 

[SOB Delores]

Part of healing is getting closure.
Not 1 official will even Respond to me.
Per their FAD emergency manual, conclusive test results from national regulatory lab.
They will NOT produce anything in writing as far as what disease & what strain.
Newcastle is not harmful to humans.
They used influenza on the warrant as probable cause.
I want answers....

 

[ThracianHorse]

Part of healing is getting closure.
Not 1 official will even Respond to me.
Per their FAD emergency manual, conclusive test results from national regulatory lab.
They will NOT produce anything in writing as far as what disease & what strain.
Newcastle is not harmful to humans.
They used influenza on the warrant as probable cause.
I want answers....

Get a lawyer. Whipping up anger here isn't going to give you any of what you desire, no matter how much you wish it might. Take all of the information you have, and go sit down with a pro-bono lawyer and see for sure what the legal leverage is.

 

[Animalfisherwoman]

For now, the priority needs to be on improving rather than ending mandatory euth. Kerri is seeking a lawyer to write what appears to be an injunction to stop the practice, but it likely will take months for even a preliminary hearing. She should still try, but given who and what she's up against, it could well get thrown out at that stage.

I hope it doesn't. An injunction could result in just quarantine. Newly infected flocks could be confiscated and observed. Carrier status among survivors should be researched. Survivor serum can be used to develop a vaccine specific to this strain. Genetic analysis could point to how to breed for more resistance.

Such studies have to be done to handle this in the future, and it would make sense for the state to redirect this way. But they probably won't voluntarily, and in any case, it could take a long time.

Among things that can be done immediately:

1) Put a tarp around the CO2 operation, or localize it inside a van outfitted for that purpose.
2) Badge temp workers by at least a wearable number/identifier.
2) Provide more info. Identify positives by cross street, just as PD logs do. Release the exact strains of Newcastle tested for and the results for seized/euthed birds, too.
3) Offer people a choice: Let people cull at their expense. The state doesn't really want this, so their alternative can be offering to come out, pay for euthed poultry, and kill them out of line of sight.

 

[Kathy Golla]

You can bring your birds inside. They have to get a proper warrant to come into your fenced-in property and house, especially your house. Don't even open the door for them without a warrant.

When CDFA/USDA first approached Kerri in December 2018, she clearly stated she would not give permission for them to come on her property. In her case it was obvious from the road she had birds.
Five months later (Good Friday), CDFA/USDA came with a signed warrant. A judge had signed the warrant, but there was no real info in the warrant other than the state/fed considered there to be a public hazard of contagious animal disease and code blah blah gave them the authority to depopulate the birds on her property (they mentioned vnd AND avian flu).
Kerri had recent negative vnd test results with her. Didnt matter.
So that warrant idea doesnt seem to be working that great, other than giving someone a false sense of security. Moving birds inside also seems to just prolong the inevitable, they are going to be able to see a coop in your yard.
Kerri doesnt live near a commercial egg farm. She lives somewhat nearby a retail poultry operation (small hatchery selling and shipping chicks). She asked for specifics about what the reason was and what the depopulation zone was, and they didnt have details, either visit.