Latest news with #avianflu
CTV News
39 minutes ago
- Health
- CTV News
Federal Appeal Court grants B.C. ostriches stay of cull pending review
Supporters of Universal Ostrich Farms stand near ostriches at the farm's property in Edgewood, B.C., on Saturday, May 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Hemens The Federal Court of Appeal has granted a stay that pauses the potential cull of nearly 400 ostriches at a B.C. farm. Court records show that a motion to pause plans for the cull, pending an appeal, was granted this afternoon in Ottawa. The owners of Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C., have been fighting an order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to cull their flock after it was hit with an avian flu outbreak last year. Katie Pasitney, whose mother co-owns the farm, thanked supporters in a post on social media, saying the 'next phase of the battle' will allow the farm to push forward for change. The plight of the ostriches has brought international attention to the farm, with protesters staying on the property to prevent the cull and activists decrying what they call government overreach. The food inspection agency has said the type of avian flu infection present at the farm is a mutation not seen elsewhere in Canada. This report by Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press, was first published June 20, 2025.
CBC
an hour ago
- Health
- CBC
Federal Appeal Court grants pause of B.C. ostrich cull pending review
The Federal Court of Appeal has granted a stay that pauses the potential cull of nearly 400 ostriches at a B.C. farm. Court records show that a motion to pause plans for the cull, pending an appeal, was granted Friday afternoon in Ottawa. The owners of Universal Ostrich Farm in Edgewood, B.C., have been fighting an order from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to cull their flock after it was hit with an avian flu outbreak last year. Katie Pasitney, whose mother co-owns the farm, thanked supporters in a post on social media, saying the "next phase of the battle" will allow the farm to push forward for change. The plight of the ostriches has brought international attention to the farm, with protesters staying on the property to prevent the cull and activists decrying what they call government overreach.
Forbes
9 hours ago
- Health
- Forbes
Should We Be Worried About Bird Flu? Public Health Experts Say Yes
Battery hens sit in a chicken shed in Suffolk, England. (Photo by) You don't need me to tell you Covid-19 changed the world. While the pandemic did help expose structural inequalities and disparities, especially in the food system, the loss of life and livelihood has been one of the greatest tragedies of our lifetimes. I'm bringing this up because, if we ignore the lessons we should've learned from this pandemic, future disease outbreaks will be much, much worse. And I'm deeply concerned that, when it comes to avian flu—a.k.a. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (HPAI) H5N1—we're on a dangerously wrong path. This virus typically affects birds, including poultry, and there's a current outbreak that has affected close to 150 million birds and devastated farms since 2022. Also concerningly, scientists have detected the virus in mammals in recent years—including dairy cows and humans—and learned it can spread between mammals, which significantly raises the outbreak risk. And since 2024, 102 cases of avian flu and 10 deaths have been reported in humans globally, a potentially staggering fatality rate. Many of these global cases over the past year and a half—about 70—have been in the U.S., which means the world's eyes are watching. And so far, this country's response has been nearly the polar opposite of what scientists call for, which puts everyone around the world in greater danger. 'We have so many tools, but they're not being used optimally—and they're not being used optimally by choice,' says Dr. Amesh Adalja, a Senior Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and an expert in global public health. 'We can change the trajectory of this if we actually take those best practices, take those tools, and use them optimally.' To be perfectly clear, there is currently no known person-to-person spread of avian flu and experts say the current public health risk is low, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What this means, though, is that the time to prevent and contain this virus is right now. There's a very real possibility that avian flu could pose a greater threat in the future, and we can't be caught unprepared. The correct course of action involves vaccination, investments in public health, and global collaboration—all of which appear to be under threat given recent U.S. policy developments. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins' original plan to combat avian flu included US$100 million in research and vaccine development. But shortly after announcing it, she reversed course and told right-wing site Breitbart that vaccines were 'off the table.' Meanwhile, in May, the Trump-Vance Administration cancelled a massive contract with Moderna to develop a vaccination for humans against bird flu, and this month, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the advisory committee that helps develop vaccine policy and recommendations for the CDC. 'I'm optimistic that they will continue to support the development of these vaccines. It would be a crime right now to stop it,' said Scott Hensley, a virologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia who worked on an avian flu vaccine for cattle. Vaccines save lives. Just last month, early results from that experimental bird flu vaccine for cattle came back promising. The U.S. Department of Agriculture conditionally approved a vaccine for poultry this spring, and some countries, like China and France, already vaccinate poultry against H5N1. Even in humans, Finland last year became the first country to roll out bird flu vaccines among its population. Alternative courses of action, rather than vaccines, are devastating: In March, Kennedy suggested farmers 'should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds and preserve the birds that are immune to it.' This, as former Kansas state veterinarian Dr. Gail Hansen put it, is a 'terrible idea' and a 'recipe for disaster.' Dr. Adalja did not mince words. If the past year has been a trial run for how the government might respond to the actual emergence of an avian flu pandemic, he says, 'we've failed this trial run.' Optimistically, on a global level, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been taking positive steps toward international collaboration: WHO's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System closely monitors avian and other animal influenza viruses, and in May, member states approved an agreement to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to outbreaks and learn from mistakes made at the height of the Covid pandemic. But remember, the Trump-Vance Administration pulled the U.S. out of the WHO effective in 2026, and has revoked a variety of investments in global and domestic health programs. These decisions are not abstract, Dr. Adalja says: they 'make these types of events much harder to prepare for and much harder to control.' As Covid-19 made abundantly clear, viruses don't stop at national borders. Keeping the public healthy and preparing for pandemic risks simply must be more important than politicking. And when we're heading in the wrong direction, there is a moral obligation to sound the alarm—and to illuminate a better path forward.
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Union presses California's key bird flu testing lab for records
The union representing workers at a UC Davis lab that tests and tracks bird flu infections in livestock has sued the university, demanding that records showing staffing levels and other information about the lab's operations be released to the public. Workers in the lab's small biotechnology department had raised concerns late last year about short staffing and potentially bungled testing procedures as cases of avian flu spread through millions of birds in turkey farms and chicken and egg-laying facilities, as well as through the state's cattle herds. The University Professional and Technical Employees-CWA Local 9119 said that it requested records in December 2024 in an attempt to understand whether the lab was able to properly service the state's agribusiness. But UC Davis has refused to release records, in violation of California's public records laws, the union alleged in a lawsuit recently filed in Alameda County Superior Court. Read more: With bird flu cases on the rise, staff at California lab say they are overworked and burned out UC Davis spokesperson Bill Kisliuk declined to comment on the lawsuit's specific allegations. "The university looks forward to filing our response in court. We are grateful for the outstanding work of the CAHFS lab staff, including UPTE-represented workers, during the 2024 surge in avian flu testing," Kisliuk said in an email. UC Davis has previously denied that workplace issues have left the lab ill-equipped to handle bird flu testing. Kisliuk had said the facility 'maintained the supervision, staffing and resources necessary to provide timely and vital health and safety information to those asking us to perform tests." According to copies of email correspondence cited in the lawsuit, UC Davis in January denied the union's request for records regarding short staffing or testing errors, calling the request "unduly burdensome." It also denied its request for information about farms and other businesses that had samples tested at the lab, citing an exemption to protect from an "invasion of personal privacy." Workers at the lab had previously told The Times that they observed lapses in quality assurance procedures, as well as other mistakes in the testing process. Amy Fletcher, a UC Davis employee and president of the union's Davis chapter, said the records would provide a necessary window into how staffing levels could be hurting farms and other businesses that rely on the lab for testing. Fletcher said workers have become afraid to speak about problems at the lab, having been warned by management that the some information related to testing is confidential. The Davis lab is the only entity in the state with the authority to confirm bird flu cases. The union, known as UPTE, represents about 20,000 researchers and other technical workers across the University of California system's 10 campuses. Sign up for our Wide Shot newsletter to get the latest entertainment business news, analysis and insights. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Telegraph
‘Swan whisperer' banned from Hyde Park after kissing birds
A so-called 'swan whisperer' has been banned from Hyde Park after kissing the white birds and assaulting two onlookers. Anders Fernstedt was filmed by a resident as he 'stroked, cuddled and kissed' swans in the London park in March 2023. Jon Ferguson, a swan volunteer, told the 57-year-old to stop interfering with the bird because of a recent outbreak of avian flu. Fernstedt then used a bicycle to ram into Virginia Grey, who had filmed him in the act, before attacking Mr Ferguson when he tried to apprehend him. Fernstedt was convicted of assault at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday and handed a 15-month community order. He has also been served a restraining order that bans him from Kensington Gardens in Hyde Park and prevents him from contacting Mr Ferguson or Mrs Grey for two years. Fernstedt had previously become a well-known figure in Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, where residents showered him with gifts, including designer clothes and a Fortnum and Mason hamper worth £5,000. The recorder, David Etherington KC, told Fernstedt: 'I find you to be an eccentric man but not suffering from an underlying mental illness.' He added: 'You are obviously an intelligent man, you clearly have had a responsible work history and it is unfortunate that seems to have gone away.' The Swedish bird fanatic, who represented himself, asked Mrs Grey during a cross-examination whether she considered herself 'as someone with royalist sympathies'. Mrs Grey said she had sent photos to police to show Fernstedt interfering with the birds. While she also admitted that Fernstedt never caused any harm to the swans, she said his actions had encouraged the spread of the virus. 'Two of the worst Londoners I have ever met' She also claimed that Fernstedt called her 'Hitler' and she was 'very scared' of the defendant. The defendant denounced Mrs Grey and Mr Ferguson as 'two of the worst Londoners I have ever met'. The judge said Mr Ferguson required stitches inside his mouth and suffered from bruised ribs after being attacked by Fernstedt. Mr Ferguson described the defendant as having punched him around his face and slammed his head against the floor before 'kicking him in the back and ribs'. In mitigation, Fernstedt, who has no previous convictions, said he would 'try to modulate the boiling kettle aspect of life'. He previously told a probation officer he became homeless in 2023 after being evicted from his house that was going up for sale. Westminster council determined he had intentionally made himself homeless.
