wild birds

Isn't it time for a rethink?  This week the DNR said that having only found one wild bird dead of the flu, it now planned to redouble its efforts.  So what now, it hopes to find two?  Or three?  When are we going to seriously entertain the thought that it is the confined turkey and chicken flocks that are the vectors of the disease and the wild ducks and other birds the victims?  This is an idea that should have occurred early on.  Logically the epidemic must always contain the source.  The occasional dead wild bird is the result of the virus running wild in the domestic population.  But we are so accustomed to the  usual approach which is to blame the domestic, or backyard flocks for whatever problems the confined birds are having that we have become unable to think clearly.

What might be the result if we did think?  We might begin to ask what the environment and feeding regimen for the confinement flocks has to do with their impaired immune system.  Obviously, the strong immune system of the wild birds is largely responsible for the minimal impacts of the flu there.  No one is vaccinating the wild ducks.  If we asked these questions of our very much abnormal confinement livestock systems, might we get to the point where we could question some of the usual solutions for viruses running wild in the human population?  How much of it has to do with weakened response due to childhood trauma?  Do we know how much more susceptible primitive populations are to all kind of disease due to the constant warfare and terrorism to which they are subjected?  What about poverty and nutrition?  And what about nutrition and depleted soils?  

If we ever start thinking, we have much to consider.  We have been wrong about many things.