Will the government take away your chickens?

Does anybody seriously fear the government will take their chickens? What sort of national emergency do you envisage that would require the general public to hand over their chickens to the government? Surely, in this sort of emergency people will be encouraged to breed and care for more chickens, they may even be incentives. That's what happened in WW2 in Britain during rationing. Isn't the registering of livestock necessary to monitor the movements of animals, important for disease control? Anyone who has witnessed the devastation caused by the spread of foot and mouth disease would not question the need for registration and movement monitoring of livestock. It is the only disease control that is effective.

Good thought newfoundland..... RHranch adds good insights too.

Anthrax, Bovine Spongeform Encephalopahy (I know I spelled BSE wrong-- mad cow disease is what I'm talking about)-- and any pandemic -- tracing livestock would be valuable.

Ridgerunner, thanks for the common sense links! Hope we all remember to think, dig a little deeper and see all sides of the question before the FUD (fear, uncertainty and Doubt) factors set in. I love the idea of Snowflake the rooster too--- sounds like the name is the opposite of the behavior.
 
I cannot imagine why the government would want my chickens. I guess if you want something to worry about, this is as good a reason as any. That said, some years ago there was a Newcastle disease outbreak in California and the feds, probably from a department of agriculture, were going door to door and checking and vaccinating everybody's chickens. An acquaintance of mine in Buelton had a number of feral chickens free ranging on her place. The feds came to her door and told her she had to catch and pen up her chickens so they could be inspected. She told them she could not catch the chickens. She was right. She couldn't. No one could. They then said that in this case they would just have to destroy her chickens. She handed one of the feds a shotgun and the other a 22 rifle and told them to have at it. At that point the agents decided her five chickens did not pose a threat to avian health, and they left. For some reason, I thought this was very funny at the time. Still do.

y'know.... I agree, it is funny. Luckily too, Newcastle disease didn't wipe out all the chickens in California! LOL.
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom