Media Coverage
February 13, 2003 to February 20, 2003
Most Current is Listed First
Media Coverage - Main Page
North County Times, CA
Feared infection of another ranch proves groundless
KATHRYN GILLICK
Staff Writer
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030220/44937.html
VALLEY CENTER ---- No news is probably good news, and the no-news Wednesday on the Exotic Newcastle disease that devastates chicken ranches when it strikes was this: The fourth ranch that officials feared had been infected hadn't.
"It's good news," Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau, said Wednesday. "We were concerned that a fourth farm would mean that the process would seem to be speeding up, but that's excellent good news. There's still hope for containment."
Larry Cooper, spokesman for the state's Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force, refused to identify or give a location for the fourth ranch. He also refused to identify a third ranch, in Valley Center, declared Tuesday to have fallen victim to Exotic Newcastle. He said he could not say where the farms are because the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is overseeing the containment and eradication effort, did not tell him.
"The policy is not to give the names," Cooper said. "That is because there is a fear that people will drive out to look and may contract or carry the disease away, spreading it. Also, it would disturb the area." USDA spokesman Larry Hawkins said he, too, would not disclose the name or address of the farm.
The North County Times has filed state and federal Freedom of Information Act requests with the task force and with state and county officials.
"This information should be public," said Kent Davy, the paper's editor. "It is essential for citizens to know what possibly neighboring properties may have been infected."
The deadly avian disease was first found in San Diego County in late December at Sylvester International Farm on Old Julian Highway in Ramona. The farm's 85,000 birds were euthanized.
The next time the disease was discovered in North County was earlier this month at Armstrong Egg Ranch in Valley Center. There, 150,000 birds were killed.
Exotic Newcastle was found a few days later at the third ranch, where all 69,000 chickens will be killed.
Officials said the disease spreads so quickly that all chickens at a ranch must be killed to keep other birds from being infected. Symptoms of the disease include sneezing, coughing, muscle spasms and drooping wings.
Each of the farms where the virus is discovered must go through a state decontamination process.
The disease, which affects every species of bird, is harmless to humans.
So far, more than 2.2 million commercial birds and 100,000 noncommercial birds have been euthanized since the disease was discovered in Compton in October, threatening the state's $3 billion poultry industry. About 300,000 of the commercial birds are from the three San Diego County farms, according to the Farm Bureau's Larson.
"That's a lot of birds, but not enough to damage the industry at this point in time," he said.
Eggs are a $48 million business in San Diego County, according to Larson, who said the impact of the disease will not be known until it is contained and eradicated.
Quarantines have been issued in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Eggs produced in the quarantined counties cannot be moved from the counties until they are washed and sanitized.
More than 9 million of the state's 12 million egg-laying hens are in the quarantine zones.
There are 37 poultry ranches in San Diego County, 27 of which are egg-raising facilities. The ranches had a total of 4.5 million chickens before the outbreak of Exotic Newcastle, according to San Diego County Agriculture Commissioner Kathleen Thuner.
Exotic Newcastle disease last broke out in California in the 1970s, causing many local producers to close permanently, Thuner said. During that outbreak, approximately 12 million birds were killed, costing the state $56 million in eradication costs.
To prevent that kind of impact on the local poultry industry, the Farm Bureau's Larson said farm owners are taking precautions such as limiting where on the farms guests can go and how their eggs are transported.
"People are just not taking any risks right now at all," he said.
Contact staff writer Kathryn Gillick at (760)740-5412 or kgillick@nctimes.com.
2/20/03
Tuscon Citizen, AZ
Deadly bird virus near Yuma sparks warnings to owners
LARRY COPENHAVER
Tucson Citizen
Feb. 20, 2003
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/2_20_03newcastle.html
Arizona officials are trying to put the kibosh on a bird disease that has taken the lives of nearly a million birds in southern California and recently was reported in this state.
It apparently was introduced through organic fertilizer spread on a field near Yuma.
The disease, exotic Newcastle disease, is caused by a virus and is considered a foreign animal disease in this country, said S. Peder Cuneo, an veterinarian with the University of Arizona.
He spoke at a news briefing yesterday.
The virus represents a potent threat to the poultry industry, he said. It is most severe when it invades flocks of chickens, peafowl, guinea, pheasants, quail, cockatiels, cockatoos and pigeons.
The disease so far has been confined to the Yuma area in Arizona, and no cases have been reported in Pima County.
The mortality rate of infected birds is nearly 100 percent, he said. Turkeys, Amazon parrots and other parrotlike birds develop a milder form of the disease, but they may be carriers.
There have been no reported cases of wild birds being infected.
California officials predict 2 million birds will be killed and disposed of before the disease is under control there, he said. It's suspected that the California epidemic began in a small private flock and spread to commercial growers.
There has been progress in controlling the virus in commercial flocks, but many so-called backyard operations are still affected in California.
Two weeks ago, Gov. Janet Napolitano declared a state of emergency following the discovery of the infection near Yuma.
The declaration prohibits the transport of live or dead birds of all types into the state.
And Napolitano ordered Yuma County, La Paz County and portions of Mohave County quarantined.
In an effort to halt the spread of exotic Newcastle disease, Cuneo said people with fowl should step up measures around their flocks and make sure any transport, sale or contact with birds is done only with certified-healthy animals.
Flock handlers are urged to clean and disinfect areas where fowl are housed and to reduce or eliminate visits from people who are in contact with other flocks, he said.
"Birds do not have to look sick to spread disease," Cuneo noted. But many show a decline in egg production, a nasal discharge, diarrhea and finally drooping, as the virus attacks the central nervous system.
One potentially urgent threat here is the possibility birds may be smuggled in for cockfighting, an illegal blood sport, said Pima County sheriff's Detective M.W. Duffey.
Cockfighting was made a felony in 1999, but law enforcement officials have found signs that it still takes place, Duffey said. "We are trying to locate and educate those people with cockfighting birds."
Intentionally or recklessly passing the disease to other animals via an infected fowl is a Class 5 felony, Duffey noted. If the disease were to infect humans, it would be considered a Class 2 felony.
Generally, exotic Newcastle disease does not affect humans, he said.
However, some eye irritation, "a pinkeyelike condition," has been reported by people handling infected birds.
Cuneo said other precautions include not handling or introducing any new bird to a flock; keeping any equipment used with other flocks away, including motor vehicles, which can carry the disease in debris on tires and the undercarriage; and not sharing feed between flocks.
Also, personal attire worn around flocks should be considered a possible source in infection, he said.
The virus can be transported on clothing, shoes, in hair, even in the nasal and ear cavities of a person.
Bird swap meets, flea markets, bird markets, bird shows, aviaries, feed stores and pet shops should be considered possible places of contamination, he said.
"If your visitors have birds of their own, do not let them near your birds."
For more information on the disease, call the Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at 621-2356 Ext. 18 or e-mail Cuneo at cuneo@u.arizona.edu.
Antec International
Antec sends over 20 tons of Virkon S to California as Newcastle Disease crisis worsens
Recently found
http://www.antecint.co.uk/main/california.htm
California, USA, February 4th 2003. In response to the escalating Exotic Newcastle Disease crisis in California - which has so far required the slaughter of over two million birds - Antec International has dispatched by air freight over 20 tons of Virkon S from its UK base to meet increased disinfectant demands in the troubled state. The supplies arrived in the US on Friday 31st January and will be followed by a further 100 tons sent via sea freight.
The decision to initiate emergency shipments came on Monday after Antec staff were notified by USDA* veterinarians that vital disinfectants necessary to combat the spread of Newcastle Disease were in critically short supply. Antec responded immediately and within 24 hours a shipment of 1,000 cases of Virkon S (enough to make over 1.5 million gallons of disinfectant) was on its way to the Memphis warehouse of Antec's US distributor AgVet Associates for immediate dispatch to California.
Newcastle Disease was first confirmed in California in October 2002 and rapidly spread beyond backyard flocks to affect commercial poultry operations. As of this month, it has also been detected in the state of Nevada. While posing no danger to human health, Newcastle Disease is one of the most feared diseases of commercial poultry and egg producers. Classified as an emergency disease ("List A") by the OIE*, the world organization for animal health, the disease - once confirmed in a flock - can only be controlled by the slaughter of affected and potentially exposed birds.
Earlier this month Antec issued a Product Information Bulletin confirming that Virkon S can be used against Newcastle Disease at the higher dilution of 1:256 (half an ounce per gallon), making the world's most proven veterinary biosecurity disinfectant even more cost-effective. Virkon S is suitable for use on surfaces such as wood (the predominant construction material for poultry housing) and is appropriate for both vehicle and bootbath disinfection. With more US EPA* label claims against the OIE List A viruses than any other product, Virkon S is widely recognized globally as the disinfectant of choice for governments keen to secure their farm animal and border biosecurity.
Francis Auchincloss, North American Sales Director at Antec International, comments, "Antec pulled out all the stops to come to the aid of USDA APHIS in its fight against Newcastle Disease in California. Time is of the essence in a situation of this nature which is why we responded within a matter of hours and dispatched the supplies by air freight at the earliest possible opportunity".
North County Times, CA
Exotic Newcastle virus found at third egg ranch
BARBARA HENRY
Staff Writer
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030219/105751.html
VALLEY CENTER ---- A third commercial poultry ranch in North County has tested positive for Exotic Newcastle disease, and it is highly probable that a fourth case will be declared today, state and federal agriculture officials announced Tuesday.
"There's another prospect but it hasn't been confirmed and probably won't be until tomorrow," said Larry Cooper, spokesman for the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force.
The third San Diego case of the highly contagious avian virus was discovered during routine weekly testing at a Valley Center ranch that is home to 69,000 birds. The second Valley Center case involved a ranch with 150,000 birds and a case in Ramona involved a 85,000-bird operation.
Because the virus spreads so easily, officials kill all chickens at a ranch even if only one ill bird is found.
All of the cases have been at commercial egg ranches and the potential fourth case also is at a Valley Center egg ranch, San Diego County Agriculture Commissioner Kathleen Thuner said.
Before confirming the fourth case, the task force ---- a coalition of state and federal officials ---- is awaiting blood test results from a chicken that has the symptoms of Exotic Newcastle, Cooper said. Symptoms include sneezing, gasping for breath, coughing, or having muscle tremors or drooping wings.
The virus, which is spread through mucus or feces, has struck chickens and other birds across three states, resulting in the destruction of more than 2.2 million birds since October.
"It's very discouraging every time we hear it's reared its ugly head once more," said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. "As contagious as it is, I won't be surprised to hear it (has been confirmed) again, but I certainly hope I won't."
Officials are not releasing the addresses of the farms where the virus has been found, saying that tactic prevents curiosity-seekers from visiting and potentially spreading the virus.
San Diego County is home to 37 poultry ranches, and 27 of them are egg-raising facilities. The egg ranches have a total of 4.5 million chickens, and while the loss of the some 300,000 birds may seem a small percentage, it could have repercussions for the entire industry, Thuner said.
Ranchers whose chickens have the virus may decide to close their businesses permanently, rather than spend the time and money to obtain new chickens and start over, she said.
Each of the ranches where the virus was discovered must go through an extensive state decontamination process. It can take up to six months for a ranch to get back into full operation, Thuner said.
After the last outbreak of Exotic Newcastle in the 1970s, many of the area's chicken-meat producers closed permanently, although the egg-production operations survived, she said. There are fewer egg ranches today, but about the same number of eggs produced ---- roughly 101 million one-dozen-egg packages a year. Most of the businesses are family-owned and their owners are very concerned about the virus spreading, Thuner said.
Charley Steiner, owner of Swiss Mountain View Egg Farm in Ramona, said he is taking extensive precautions to keep his 40,000 birds safe. He is disinfecting all trucks that come onto his ranch, he said.
"If this continues to many more ranches, it will cost a lot more than (in 1971) because everything is more expensive now," he said. "Hopefully, it will be contained."
Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 739-6673 or bhenry@nctimes.com.
Staff writer Jeff Frank contributed to this report.
2/19/03
CFBF
FOOD & FARM NEWS
(Issue date: Thursday, February 20, 2003)
Poultry disease takes financial toll
http://www.cfbf.com/ffn/default.asp#h3
Losses from exotic Newcastle disease will be felt for months to come, by poultry farmers whose birds must be destroyed. More than 2 million chickens from commercial flocks in Southern California have been euthanized. The government compensates farmers for the lost birds. But farmers may have to wait months to buy new chickens and return to egg production. In the meantime, both they and their workers suffer lost income.
Washington Post, DC
Poultry Disease Spreads To Another Farm in California
Thursday, February 20, 2003
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32879-2003Feb19.html
An infectious avian disease has spread to another commercial poultry farm in California despite health officials' killing more than 2 million birds to control the outbreak, the Agriculture Department said.
Exotic Newcastle Disease, which is harmless to humans and does not affect the safety of poultry meat or eggs, has infected flocks in California, Nevada and Arizona. It is easily spread by vehicles and wild birds and is tough to eradicate because many birds die with no signs of infection.
California, the ninth-largest U.S. poultry producer, has been hardest hit by the disease. Thirteen commercial poultry farms in California have been infected, the USDA said. The disease was first discovered in October in Southern California.
About 1,700 state and federal officials are randomly stopping cars and going door-to-door looking for infected birds in the three states. The only way to eradicate the disease quickly in commercial poultry is to destroy infected flocks and impose a quarantine.
The Bakersfield Californian, CA
Kern firefighters to combat bird disease
By AMY HILVERS, Californian staff writer
e-mail: ahilvers@bakersfield.com
http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/2649480p-2692256c.html
Wednesday February 19, 2003, 10:29:10 PM
Two teams of Kern County firefighters will go to Southern California and Nevada today to help battle exotic Newcastle disease.
The teams will help coordinate efforts, tools and resources to help combat the highly contagious bird disease, which has spread to Arizona and Nevada. The disease is deadly to birds but cannot be contracted by humans.
One team of three firefighters will go to Nevada and another team of four firefighters will go to Southern California, according to county fire Capt. Doug Johnston.
The goals are identifying the poultry commercial sites that have been affected, quarantining those areas and then disposing of infected birds and coops.
The U.S. and state Agriculture and Health departments are some of the agencies involved in efforts to contain the disease.
Both teams will be at their sites for at least two weeks, Johnston said. If the tasks are not completed, their stay will be extended or another team may take over.
"It's a huge undertaking," Johnston said.
Another firefighting team has also been sent out of the county recently.
Six Kern County firefighters were sent to Texas Sunday to help recovery of debris from space shuttle Columbia.
Union Tribune, CA
3rd county ranch has deadly poultry virus
69,000 birds must be destroyed at new site
By Elizabeth Fitzsimons
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20030219-9999_1mi19ranch.html
February 19, 2003
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
At the Armstrong Farms ranch in Valley Center, workers in protective clothing gather eggs to be removed and buried, with chickens, in a landfill.
VALLEY CENTER – The county's poultry ranchers have been fiercely guarding their birds against a fatal avian virus for months, but officials announced yesterday that a third commercial ranch had been infected with exotic Newcastle disease.
About 69,000 birds will be destroyed at the site of the newest outbreak. The ranch is close to a Valley Center ranch owned by Armstrong Farms that tested positive for the virus last week, sources said.
But officials with the state and federal Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force, following a long-standing policy, would not disclose its name or location.
At the Armstrong ranch, on Cole Grade Road, state and federal workers wearing white disposable suits went about the process of euthanizing its 150,000 birds yesterday.
Ranch owner Alan Armstrong, like other ranchers in the county and elsewhere, had been following strict bio-security measures since the outbreak of exotic Newcastle was confirmed in a backyard flock of chickens in Los Angeles County in October.
But it seems that even the most careful security is no guarantee the virus won't somehow creep onto a ranch.
"It's just that constant threat. It's so nerve-wracking," said Frank Hilliker of Hilliker Egg Ranch, which has about 30,000 birds in Lakeside.
"Every time the federal people come and the state people come to take some birds to the lab, the anxiety goes up," Hilliker said of the weekly testing by the task force. It is done at each commercial ranch in a quarantine zone that covers eight Southern California counties and two counties in Arizona and Nevada.
Commercial ranches have reduced the traffic onto their ranches, allowing access only to those people who must be there, such as task force members and ranch workers. Every truck is disinfected, as are visitors' shoes.
The Fluegge Egg Ranches maintain about 60,000 chickens at a ranch in Valley Center and about 95,000 at an Escondido facility.
August Fluegge Jr., who owns the ranch with his father, August Sr., said he spends about $50 a week on disinfectant.
But the bigger burden is the extra labor, Fluegge said.
"Every time a truck comes in, we spray it, and we spray all our racks," he said. "What really costs is all the time to do everything."
The disease, which is harmless to humans, appeared in San Diego County late in December when it was detected in a flock of 73,000 chickens at Ramona Egg Enterprises in Ramona.
There have also been three cases of exotic Newcastle in backyard flocks of birds in the county.
The outbreak is the worst since exotic Newcastle last spread through commercial chicken ranches in the 1970s, when it took officials three years to eradicate the disease.
About 12 million birds were destroyed and $56 million spent on the effort before the outbreak was contained.
The current outbreak has already cost the state and federal governments about $35 million. The disease's spread has prompted authorities to order the destruction of 2.6 million birds, and the task force has pleaded with bird owners to follow safety precautions such as keeping pet birds isolated from other birds.
Information on safety precautions can be found on the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Web site, at http://www.cdfa.ca.gov
Valley Center farmers are also still dealing with an infestation of Mexican fruit flies and a 130-square mile quarantine area established to prevent the flies from spreading.
A fourth round in a series of aerial treatments of pesticide in a 28-square-mile core area of the quarantine zone was scheduled for last night.
The quarantine requires growers to repeatedly treat their crops with a pesticide-laced bait before they can pick and ship any fruit.
Elizabeth Fitzsimons:
(760) 752-6743; elizabeth.fitzsimons@uniontrib.com
KOLD-TV, AZ
02/19/03
Illegal Cockfighting May Spread Disease
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=1140339&nav=14RTE6U6
Arizona voters banned cockfighting in 1998, but local authorities say it's still going on, and that's putting chickens across Pima County at risk for a deadly disease. Members of the Animal Cruelty Task Force held a news conference in Tucson Wednesday morning about Exotic Newcastle Disease. E-N-D has arrived in Arizona from California where it already has killed nearly one million birds. Three Arizona counties are under quarantine. Officials say it's just a matter of time before the disease reaches Pima County. The Animal Cruelty Task Force wants people who raise chickens for illegal cockfighting to be aware of the highly contagious disease and its symptoms. Pima County Sheriff's Detective Mike Duffey says the fear is that they will have a diseased bird and spread the disease around the state. Duffey says, to protect their flocks they should learn about symptoms and treatment and how to contain the contagious disease. E-N-D affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems of birds. It does not pose a major risk for people, but can cause pink eye in rare circumstances.
Daily Courier, AZ
Local firefighters, Forest Service personnel help with shuttle search
By JOANNA DODDER
The Daily Courier
February 19, 2003
http://www.communitypapers.com/dailycourier/myarticles.asp?P=722575&S=400&PubID=10331&EC=0
PRESCOTT – Seven Prescott-area firefighters were to fly out of Arizona this morning to help in the search for space shuttle Columbia parts in Texas.
Four men from the Prescott Fire Department and three from the Central Yavapai Fire District will be part of a 20-person Arizona crew enlisted to help in the effort to recover parts of the shuttle, which disintegrated as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere Feb. 1.
Several Forest Service employees in Prescott also are helping with the recovery effort.
So far, people have recovered thousands of pieces, but no one has found any west of Texas.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is beefing up the search force from the current 350 to 2,000 people by the end of the week, and it’s focusing its recruitment efforts on people with wildland firefighting experience, NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said.
“It’s very tough to get out there in those piney woods,” he said, and wildland firefighters are trained to deal with the conditions.
It also helps that the firefighters are well versed in the incident command system.
Prescott Fire Department engineer Mark Diedrick will be part of the Arizona crew.
“It’s an honor to be asked, for sure,” Diedrick said. “You watch a lot of this on the news and wonder how you can help. This is a way to give something back.”
It’s also an opportunity for Prescott-area firefighters to learn more about other areas, and vice versa.
“We’re representing not only the fire department, but the people of our community,” Diedrick said.
He’s been told the work probably will last two to three weeks.
Other firefighters on the team include Capt. Paul Williams and firefighters Jeff Jones and Troy Steinbrink of the Prescott Fire Department, plus Capt. Brian Cole, Capt. Scott Bliss and engineer Jack Dale from Central Yavapai.
Humphries doesn’t know exactly where the Prescott-area firefighters will work. People can track the search’s progress through the NASA Web site at spaceflight.nasa.gov by clicking on “mishap status reports.”
It’s a strong statement of the professionalism of Prescott-
area firefighters that seven of them will join the 20-person Arizona crew, department officials noted.
“They know when they call us that we can come and do a good job for them,” CYFD Fire Marshal Charlie Cook said.
Cook noted that this is a relatively slow time of year for the departments.
The federal government will reimburse the departments’ costs, Prescott Fire Chief Darrell Willis noted.
Backing up the shuttle recovery effort, the Central West Zone dispatch center at the U.S. Forest Service’s Prescott Fire Center has been coordinating the movements of Arizona firefighters as well as some of their fellow Forest Service employees at the Fire Center.
Dave Alexander and Debbie Maxam from the Fire Center’s cache center will travel to the Forest Service’s cache center in Kentucky to help supply those searching for shuttle parts with the equipment they need.
The Forest Service has 11 caches around the country that supply firefighters and other federal disaster relief workers. The cavernous warehouses contain everything imaginable to support the search crews. Prescott’s has approximately 1,000 different types of equipment valued at more than $3 million.
The Central West Zone dispatch center receives requests for help in all kinds of disasters through the National Incident Command Center in Boise, Idaho, and also relays requests back, zone Coordinator Tom Tobin explained.
The dispatch center has a long list of disaster relief workers and contractors to call at a moment’s notice.
“We’re all risk, any time,” Tobin said. “We have the ability to set up and run logistics to accelerate the mission, no matter what the mission may be. Even the military has come to us to see how we can mobilize people.”
He and his crew have dispatched people everywhere from the World Trade Center on 9-11 to California in recent days to help fight back the spread of Exotic Newcastle Disease in poultry.
Since its discovery in October, the disease has led to the destruction of more than two million birds while costing state and federal governments $35 million and the poultry industry $2 million. The last California outbreak, in the early 1970s, cost U.S. poultry and egg supply companies and taxpayers $56 million, and led to the death of 12 million birds.
The Prescott Fire Center has dispatched ground support units, public affairs officers, logistics chiefs and other personnel to help keep the outbreak in check.
Contact Joanna Dodder at jdodder@prescottaz.com or 445-8179, ext. 2035.
KNBC-TV, CA
Nearly 70,000 More Birds To Be Euthanized Due To Poultry Disease
Newcastle Now Taking Hold In San Diego County
POSTED: 3:20 p.m. PST February 19, 2003
http://www.nbc4.tv/news/1991814/detail.html
VALLEY CENTER, Calif. -- A third commercial poultry ranch in San Diego County has been hit by the exotic Newcastle disease, meaning 69,000 more birds will have to be destroyed.
The San Diego Union-Tribune, citing unnamed sources, said the ranch is close to a Valley Center ranch owned by Armstrong Farms which tested positive for the virus last week. State and federal officials do not disclose the location of affected ranches.
State and federal workers have begun euthanizing 150,000 birds at the Armstrong ranch.
The disease appeared in the county in December when it was found in a flock of 73,000 chickens at a ranch in Ramona.
Exotic Newcastle disease is highly contagious among poultry and other birds but does not pose a significant health risk to humans.
Gov. Gray Davis and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have declared states of emergency across Southern California and expanded a quarantine zone for the disease.
Since October, when the disease was discovered in backyard flocks in Los Angeles County, more than 2 million birds have been destroyed.
Forbes
Chicken virus spreads to new Calif farm - USDA
Reuters, 02.19.03, 4:40 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2003/02/19/rtr884078.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An infectious avian disease has spread to another commercial poultry farm in California despite health officials killing more than 2 million birds to control the outbreak, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Wednesday.
Exotic Newcastle disease, which is harmless to humans and does not affect the safety of poultry meat or eggs, has infected flocks in California, Nevada and Arizona.
Some experts theorized the outbreak began with illegal fighting cocks used for gambling or in small backyard flocks kept for food. Exotic Newcastle is easily spread by vehicles and wild birds and is tough to eradicate because many birds die without showing signs of infection.
California, the 9th-largest U.S. poultry producer, with sales of $3 billion annually, has been hardest hit by Exotic Newcastle Disease.
Thirteen commercial poultry farms in California have been infected, the USDA said. The disease was first discovered in October in a backyard flock in Southern California.
About 1,700 state and federal officials are randomly stopping cars and going door-to-door in search of infected birds in the three states.
The only way to eradicate the disease quickly in commercial poultry is by destroying infected flocks and imposing a strict quarantine. Health officials have killed 2.12 million birds and targeted 542,000 more. All contaminated or exposed chickens are killed, double-bagged and buried.
Industry officials said they were concerned about the continued spread of the disease but remained confident the virus would not cut total U.S. poultry exports. Foreign countries have banned poultry from the infected states.
Of the three affected states, California is the only major poultry producer. However, it is not a major exporter.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service
Tucson citizen, AZ
Deadly bird virus near Yuma sparks warnings to owners
LARRY COPENHAVER
Tucson Citizen
Feb. 20, 2003
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/breaking/2_19_03newcastle.html
Arizona officials are trying to put the kibosh on a deadly bird disease that already has taken the lives of nearly a million feathered creatures in California and recently was reported in this state, apparently introduced through fertilizer spread on a field near Yuma.
The disease, Exotic Newcastle Disease, is caused by a virus, considered a foreign animal disease in this country, said S. Peder Cuneo, an veterinarian with the University of Arizona, speaking at a news briefing today.
The virus represents a very potent threat to the poultry industry, he said. It is most severe when it invades flocks of chickens, peafowl, guinea, pheasant, quail, cockatiels, cockatoos and pigeon, he said. The mortality rate on infected birds is nearly 100 percent.
Turkeys, Amazon parrots and other parrotlike birds develop a milder form of the disease, but they may be carriers.
In an effort to halt the spread of Exotic Newcastle Disease, Cuneo said people with fowl should step up measures around their flocks and make sure any transport, sale or contact with birds is done only with certified-healthy animals.
Flock handlers are urged to clean and disinfect areas where the fowl are housed and to reduce or eliminate visits from people who are in contact with other flocks, he said. "Birds do not have to look sick to spread disease," he noted
Cuneo said other precautions include not handling or introducing any new bird to a flock, keeping any equipment used with other flocks away, including motor vehicles, which can carry the disease on debris on tires and undercarriage, and not sharing feed between flocks.
Also, personal attire worn around other flocks should be considered as a possible source in infection, he said. The virus can be transported on clothing, shoes, in one's hair, even in the nasal and ear cavities of a person.
Bird swap meets, flea markets, bird markets, bird shows, aviaries, feed stores and pet shops should be considered possible places of contamination, he said. "If your visitors have birds of their own, do not let them near your birds."
San Jose Mercury News, CA
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/5216157.htm
VALLEY CENTER, Calif. (AP) - A third commercial poultry ranch in San Diego County has been hit by the exotic Newcastle disease, meaning 69,000 more birds will have to be destroyed.
The San Diego Union-Tribune, citing unnamed sources, said the ranch is close to a Valley Center ranch owned by Armstrong Farms which tested positive for the virus last week. State and federal officials do not disclose the location of affected ranches.
State and federal workers have begun euthanizing 150,000 birds at the Armstrong ranch.
The disease appeared in the county in December when it was found in a flock of 73,000 chickens at a ranch in Ramona.
Exotic Newcastle Disease is highly contagious among poultry and other birds but does not pose a significant health risk to humans.
Gov. Gray Davis and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have declared states of emergency across Southern California and expanded a quarantine zone for the disease.
Since October, when the disease was discovered in backyard flocks in Los Angeles County, more than 2 million birds have been destroyed.
KGTV, CA
Poultry Disease Hits Third San Diego Ranch
Exotic Newcastle Disease Costing Million Of Dollars To Fight
http://www.thesandiegochannel.com/news/1991083/detail.html
POSTED: 11:13 a.m. PST February 19, 2003
UPDATED: 11:19 a.m. PST February 19, 2003
SAN DIEGO -- Poultry on a third San Diego Ranch have been found to be infected with the exotic Newcastle disease, requiring the destruction of 69,000 birds, it was reported Wednesday.
The infection was discovered in Valley Center, close to a ranch owned by Armstrong Farms, whose birds tested positive for the virus last week, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Officials with the state and federal Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force would not disclose the ranch's name or location.
At the Armstrong ranch, on Cole Grade Road, state and federal workers were in the process of euthanizing its 150,000 birds
.
The highly contagious avian virus has prompted state and federal authorities to quarantine eight Southern California counties and two in Arizona and Nevada.
Exotic Newcastle disease, which is harmless to humans, appeared in San Diego County in December when it was found in a flock of 73,000 chickens at Ramona Egg Enterprises in Ramona.
The disease's spread has forced authorities to order the destruction of 2.6 million birds.
County poultry farmers have been following strict measures to stop the spread of the disease, including restricting access to their ranches and requiring visitors to disinfect their shoes and vehicles before entering.
Agriculture.com
State ag depts. warn residents on poultry disease
http://www.agriculture.com/default.sph/AgNews.class?FNC=sideBarMore__ANewsindex_html___49381
Several State Departments of Agriculture are warning residents to keep an eye out for unusual clinical signs or unexplained deaths in poultry after a flock in Arizona was diagnosed with Exotic Newcastle Disease. The highly contagious viral disease originated in California and has now spread to Nevada and Arizona. Though not a threat to public health, the outbreak has officials concerned about a possible spread across the US. Movement of any type of birds out of quarantined areas would be illegal, since it poses a threat of spreading the disease, which could devastate poultry flocks and trade by preventing poultry exports. 02/17/2003 12:49 p.m.CDT
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, CA
Newcastle outbreak dampens County Fair contests
Students bummed about poultry shows being canceled
By L.C. GREENE, STAFF WRITER
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~1188390,00.html
INDIO - Jurupa Valley High School agriculture students Danielle Kane and David Summers won't be showing their poultry at this week's Riverside County Fair.
David's 25 chickens remain quarantined in Jurupa and the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force euthanized Danielle's turkeys and chickens in December after the fowl apparently tested positive for the lethal and highly-contagious virus.
"They said they had to kill them," Danielle said.
Though the task force paid the 16-year-old Jurupa Valley Future Farmers of America chapter president some money for her birds, the final tally left her about $200 in the hole, she said.
"They're not cheap to feed," Danielle said.
The poultry-killing exotic Newcastle disease virus was initially detected in California in October.
Federal and state agriculture officials established quarantines for poultry and other birds in Riverside, San Bernardino and the five other Southern California counties. In addition, all poultry shows, including the Riverside County Fair's, were canceled.
The disease task force has been systematically testing commercial and backyard flocks, destroying those potentially or actually infected with the virus.
As of Tuesday, the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force reported killing more than 2.1 million commercial birds, with another 540,000 pegged for destruction.
More than 99,000 backyard birds at nearly 1,600 properties have been destroyed.
Danielle questioned whether her turkeys and chickens were actually infected, despite what task force members said about the test results. Thirty days passed between the tests and the day the fowl were euthanized, she said.
"If my birds had it, they should have died," she said.
A chicken will usually die three days after contracting the virus, she said.
Sixteen-year-old David Summers of Jurupa said his egg-laying chickens tested negative for the virus, however the birds remain quarantined.
Late last year before the disease outbreak, David's fowl earned $700 in prize money at the Perris Farmers Fair.
However, unable to enter contests or sell birds since the outbreak, David said he's now $300 to $400 in the red.
Efforts to find roosters to breed with his prize hens have also proved futile, he said.
"I couldn't find a person who wasn't quarantined," David said.
So, at this year's fair, FFA members are left with entering their non-feathered animals.
After winning a first place in Novice Showmanship and a second in Advanced Showmanship at the Farmers Fair, David said he expects his yet-to-be-named swine to fare well at this week's Riverside County Fair.
L.C. Greene can be reached by e-mail at l_greene@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9337.
Press-Enterprise, CA
Shelters deal differently with bird quarantine
QUARANTINE: Some Inland facilities won't accept or adopt out birds. Others are destroying them.
02/19/2003
By PAIGE AUSTIN
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_NEWS_nashelter.a14d4.html
Lost and abandoned pet birds may be checking into local animal shelters, but chances are they won't be finding their way out.
Shelters in Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties have been put under quarantine because of exotic Newcastle disease. Some are destroying birds thought to have come in contact with the disease, officials said Tuesday.
Most shelters are not actively accepting or adopting out birds. People who want to retrieve their lost avian pets may have little luck if the wandering bird is at risk for exposure to the disease.
In the last month, the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force tested and destroyed birds at the Moreno Valley Animal Shelter and San Bernardino County's Devore shelter. Birds at the San Fernando Valley Animal Shelter also tested positive for the disease.
The task force said the state has not issued any directives to the shelters. However, most shelter officials know they should not be letting birds come and go, said Larry Cooper, task force spokesman.
Pet owners who want to retrieve their birds can "probably pay to test the birds," said Cooper. If a bird tests negative, the ownercan apply for a permit allowing the bird to be kept alive but quarantined, he said.
Some officials at local animal shelters aren't sure what the quarantine means.
"It's a confusing situation," said Betsy Ritchie, chief officer at the Moreno Valley Animal Shelter, where 63 fighting birds were destroyed last month.
The Devore shelter has destroyed all but one of its fighting birds after four tested positive for the disease. Only Olive, the shelter's pet ostrich, remains, said supervisor Chris Springer.
At the Riverside Animal Shelter, seemingly unexposed birds are safe to go.
"Can you bring birds out . . . and take them home? Yes, but you cannot leave the county with them," said Ralph Rivers, shelter spokesman.
Norco animal control officers have stopped picking up or adopting out birds, but that hasn't stopped the birds from coming into the shelter.
"We've had a lot of over-the-fence drop offs," said City Manager Ed Hatzenbuhler. "We put down the roosters and only keep some of the hens."
Reach Paige Austin at (909) 893-2106 or paustin@pe.com
Press-Enterprise, CA
Cost of Newcastle rises to $35 million
02/18/2003
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.pe.com/localnews/statenews/stories/PE.STATE.2003.0218.ap-newcastle.2187209a.html
LOS ANGELES -- Governments have spent more than $35 million and imposed quarantines in three states to stop the spread of a poultry disease that has stripped many farmers of their flocks and forced others to pay high disinfecting costs, industry officials say.
Since October, when the disease was discovered in backyard flocks in Los Angeles County, the federal government has spent $22 million and the state $13 million to pay for operating the Los Alamitos-based task force dealing with Exotic Newcastle Disease, Larry Cooper of the California Department of Agriculture said.
The poultry and egg industries are also drowning in new costs, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture-commissioned study. Those costs include disinfection and biosecurity upgrades, and losses in sales, exports and marketing.
"Even simple things, like disinfecting, are beyond the reach of a lot of farmers," Bahan said. "We're pretty much running on empty and have been for a while," said Paul Bahan, owner of AAA Egg Farms in Riverside County's San Jacinto Valley.
Disinfectant alone is costing AAA between $400 and $600 a week, he said.
About 2.1 million birds have been destroyed since the disease was discovered.
Gov. Gray Davis and the USDA last month declared states of emergency across Southern California and expanded the quarantine zone for the disease.
The quarantine prohibits the movement of all poultry, poultry products and nesting materials in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties without a USDA permit. The outbreak also has spread to Arizona and Nevada.
In the latest case, four Southern California commercial farms within the quarantine area tested positive for the disease in mid-February. About 410,000 chickens were ordered destroyed.
The disease, which does not affect humans, is spread primarily through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily discharges of infected birds.
The last California outbreak, in the early 1970s, cost U.S. poultry and egg supply companies and taxpayers $56 million, according to the USDA. It affected more than 1,300 flocks and 12 million birds.
"It's definitely costing industry big money in Southern California," said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation.
Poultry and egg producers have accumulated losses up to $2 million and face losing 5 percent of their business due to export bans, Mattos said.
Russia, Canada and Mexico all have placed bans on poultry and egg imports from the three infected states. Producers outside the quarantine areas are feeling the squeeze.
Metzer Farms, a duck and goose hatchery in Central California, has not been able to export internationally since November. The hatchery relied on Los Angeles International Airport to ship its live birds, but can no longer use it because it is within the quarantine area.
"We used to export quite a bit, mainly Canada, but some into Mexico," said owner John Metzer. "We've lost maybe 5 percent of business."
Squab Producers of California lost 10 percent to 20 percent of its business more than $100,000 in sales because it could not export its pigeons to Canada for the Chinese New Year this month. The Modesto-based company is the largest squab processing facility in the world.
"If indeed it isn't eradicated, and we do have problems with the actual disease, it could virtually, almost permanently, wipe out our entire industry," Squab president Bob Shipley said.
Facilities forced to destroy chickens lose production income for months or longer, said Ralph Ernst, a poultry specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Although the disease has not yet raised egg prices, egg farms have had to spend extra money on pressure sprayers, fencing, disinfectant and labor to fight the disease.
Time is important, for producers and consumers.
"We want things to move faster. ... Government moves like a battleship, industry moves like a speedboat. We'd like government to get into the speedboat," Mattos said.
Contra Costa Times, CA, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL, Press-Enterprise, CA
Posted on Tue, Feb. 18, 2003
Cost of fighting Exotic Newcastle Disease rises to $35 million
NADA EL SAWY
Associated Press -Many Sources
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/5207756.htm
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030218&Category=APN&ArtNo=302180767&Ref=AR
http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_AGR_Poultry_Disease_97947C.shtml
LOS ANGELES - The state and federal government have spent $35 million to fight a deadly poultry disease in Southern California that has led to the destruction of 2.1 million birds and losses are mounting for poultry and egg producers inside and outside a seven-county quarantine area, industry and state officials said.
The outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease was first discovered in October in backyard flocks in Los Angeles County and the disease has since spread to nearby counties and into Arizona and Nevada.
"END (Exotic Newcastle Disease) is clearly not under control," said Ralph Ernst, a poultry specialist with the University of California Cooperative Extension.
Gov. Gray Davis and the U.S. Department of Agriculture last month declared states of emergency across Southern California and expanded the quarantine zone within the state for the disease. The quarantine prohibits the movement of all poultry, poultry products and nesting materials in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, San Diego and Imperial counties without a USDA permit.
In the latest case, four Southern California commercial farms within the quarantine area last week tested positive for the disease. About 410,000 chickens will be destroyed.
As of the first week of February, the federal government had spent $22 million and the state $13 million to finance the operational costs of the Los Alamitos-based task force dealing with the poultry disease, said Larry Cooper of the California Department of Agriculture.
The disease also has led to a multitude of costs for the poultry and egg industry, according to a USDA-commissioned study. Expenses include the costs of disinfections and biosecurity upgrades, and losses in sales, exports and marketing.
The disease, which does not affect humans, is spread primarily through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily discharges of infected birds.
The last California outbreak, in the early 1970s, cost U.S. poultry and egg supply companies and taxpayers $56 million, according to the USDA. It affected more than 1,300 flocks and 12 million birds.
"It's definitely costing industry big money in Southern California," said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation.
Poultry and egg producers have absorbed production losses of at least $1 million to $2 million and also face losing 5 percent of their business due to export bans, said Mattos.
Russia, Canada and Mexico all have placed bans on poultry and egg imports from the three infected states, and the bans are affecting producers inside and outside the quarantine area.
Metzer Farms, a duck and goose hatchery in central California, has not been able to export internationally since November. The hatchery also relied on Los Angeles International Airport to ship its live birds, but can no longer use LAX because it is within the quarantine area.
"We used to export quite a bit, mainly Canada, but some into Mexico," said owner John Metzer. "We've lost maybe five percent of business."
Squab Producers of California lost 10 to 20 percent of its business - more than $100,000 in sales - because it could not export squab this month to Canada for the Chinese New Year. The Modesto-based company is the largest squab processing facility in the world.
"If indeed it isn't eradicated, and we do have problems with the actual disease, it could virtually, almost permanently, wipe out our entire industry," said Bob Shipley, president of Squab Producers.
Facilities forced to destroy chickens lose production income for months or longer, said Ernst of the UC Cooperative Extension.
Although the disease has not yet impacted egg prices, egg farms have had to spend extra money on pressure sprayers, fencing, disinfectant and labor to fight the disease.
Paul Bahan, owner of AAA Egg Farms in Riverside County's San Jacinto Valley, said he has been spending between $400 and $600 a week on disinfectant alone.
"Even simple things, like disinfecting, are beyond the reach of a lot of farmers," said Bahan. "We're pretty much running on empty, and have been for a while."
Cooper, who is part of the poultry disease task force, said it is "certainly possible" that there will be more reports of the disease, especially within the quarantine area.
"It's a huge task, and it's a dangerous problem," Cooper said. "I'm not sure how you can measure that in low-cost, high-cost terms."
Buckmasters Online
Feb 18, 2003
Exotic Bird Disease Found in Arizona
From the Arizona Game and Fish Dept.
http://www.buckmasters.com/more_buckmasters/zones/features/030211Z11Exotic.html
Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) has been confirmed in Arizona. On Feb. 4 END was confirmed in a backyard poultry flock in western Arizona, leading to the quarantine of portions of three Arizona counties.
End is a contagious viral disease affecting many species of birds including poultry and wild birds. The Arizona Game and Fish Department asks hunters and bird watchers to be on the alert for wild birds that may exhibit symptoms of this disease. This is probably one of the most infectious diseases of poultry in the world with a death rate of almost 100 percent in unvaccinated poultry flocks and so virulent that many birds die without showing any clinical signs. The disease can even infect and cause death in vaccinated poultry.
END is extremely contagious. The spread is primarily through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily fluids of infected birds. It can be transmitted through infected bird droppings as well as secretions from the nose, mouth and eyes. It spreads rapidly among confined birds like commercially raised chickens. The disease is also easily spread by virus-bearing material picked up on shoes and clothing and carried from an infected flock to a healthy one. END can also spread from poultry flocks to wildlife as wild birds come into contact with infected poultry, possibly when wild birds enter a pen to feed on spilled grain. Although experiments have documented that several wild species including ducks and pheasants can develop the disease, widespread illness and death has only been documented in double-crested cormorants in the United States and Canada.
This disease affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems, with an incubation period ranging from two to 15 days. Infected birds may exhibit the following signs:
* Respiratory: sneezing, gasping for air, nasal discharge, coughing
* Digestive: greenish, watery diarrhea
* Nervous: muscular tremors, droopy wings, twisting head & neck, circling, complete paralysis
* Partial or complete reduction in egg production
* Production of thin-shelled eggs
* Swelling of the tissues around the eyes & in the neck
* Sudden death
* Increased number of deaths in a flock
The available information suggests that Newcastle disease can affect people, however, it does not pose a significant health risk. In humans, the disease is usually limited to conjunctivitis, which is a mild inflammation of the tissues around the eyes and is seen in persons associated with infected birds or facilities where infected birds are housed. It should be noted that poultry products in the Arizona marketplace, including eggs and meat, continue to be safe to consume.
Anyone interested in additional information or an update of restrictions in the movement of birds in Arizona can contact the Arizona Department of Agriculture hotline at 1-888-742-5334 or the Arizona Department of Agriculture Web site: agriculture.state.az.us. Specific questions are being handled through e-mail to statevet@agric.state.az.us.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture also maintains a current web site with information on Newcastle Disease: aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/enc/exoticnc.html
Las Vegas Sun, NV
February 17, 2003
No new Newcastle infections reported
By Mary Manning
LAS VEGAS SUN
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2003/feb/17/514674701.html
Federal and state officials are getting closer to declaring Nevada free of exotic Newcastle disease.
No cases of infection in Southern Nevada birds have been confirmed in a few weeks, but before officials can say the disease has been eradicated in the Silver State, further monitoring is necessary, said Dr. David Thain, state veterinarian.
The quarantine that took effect Jan. 16, after the infection was discovered in chickens near Nellis Air Force Base, remains in place.
"We have eliminated the risks of known infected or contaminated birds and materials spreading the disease to other areas," Thain said.
Once an area a little over a half-mile around the previously infected area is declared disease-free, fresh poultry will be introduced. The disease-free birds are known as sentinel birds, Thain said.
"If our sentinel birds remain healthy, then we can declare eradication," Thain said.
To date, nine citations have been issued for violating the quarantine. Ten investigations have been initiated.
Violators of the quarantine order could result in fines up to $600 and other civil penalties up to $25,000.
Owners can protect their poultry, racing pigeon flocks or pet birds by avoiding contact with infected birds, officials said.
Exotic Newcastle disease does not pose a risk to humans.
Union Tribune, CA
More infected birds reported in county
Exotic Newcastle disease hits flocks
By Elizabeth Fitzsimons
STAFF WRITER
February 16, 2003
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/sun/metro/news_1m16newcast.html
Two more cases of exotic Newcastle disease have been found in San Diego County, a state and federal task force announced.
One of the new cases of infected birds were involved backyard chickens, Larry Cooper, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said Friday. But he would not say where the infected flock was found. Details about the newest case, announced yesterday, were unavailable.
Earlier in the week, Cooper said it was the policy of the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force not to release locations of diseased flocks. He said the policy was a safeguard against further spread of the disease.
"The danger is spreading the virus and the more people that know, the more curious they get," Cooper said. "Even reporters hanging around and not taking the right precautions. And they go onto the property that's infected, and they go somewhere else and then it's infected."
Cooper said the task force also does not name commercial ranches where infections have been found because doing so could imply the ranch had done something wrong and the publicity could hurt its business.
Officials also announced Friday that a San Bernardino poultry ranch tested positive for the disease. That ranch was the 13th commercial facility to become infected in Southern California since the outbreak was confirmed in Los Angeles County in October.
The ranch has about 16,000 chickens that will be destroyed. The task force has not finished appraising those birds or the ones in four commercial facilities that tested positive for exotic Newcastle earlier last week, including one in Valley Center.
Ranch owners are paid fair market value for their flock before the birds are euthanized.
The task force has changed the way it will handle some birds inside a quarantine zone, which includes eight Southern California counties and one each in Arizona and Nevada.
Birds that test positive for exotic Newcastle will continue to be euthanized. But in cases where birds are near infected birds, but haven't caught the disease and the owners can show they have a bio-security program in place, the birds will not be destroyed.
Further information about exotic Newcastle disease and the quarantine can be found on the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Web site, http://www.cdfa.ca.gov,cq or by calling the Exotic Newcastle Disease Hotline: (800) 491-1899.
Copyright 2003 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
KESQ, CA
Local Country Club battles geese
http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=1135805&nav=9qrxE32n
For some it's the sand, for others it's the wind. The things that cause
headaches for folks living in the desert. For one group in Rancho Mirage,
it's the snowbirds.
Let's be clear, these really are snowbirds. Canada geese on their way to
Mexico stopping in and making a home out of it here. But anyone who knows
anything about geese knows they can be a real pain.
It's a story for the birds, or about them as the case may be.
Lake Mirage Country Club prides itself on it's swan population, but Canada
geese and other migratory birds have been crashing the party.
"They're not supposed to stay," says one resident. "They're supposed to
keep going to Mexico. But when people feed them, they stay. They're getting
a free lunch."
The problem isn't so much the birds but what the birds leave behind again
the free lunch.
The droppings are so bad dozens of homeowners met Monday morning to figure
out what to do about the situation.
A few solutions to the problem have been proposed. One: reduce the number
of feeders intended for the swans, but taken advantage of by the geese.
Many folks we talked to today however seem reluctant about this.
"I love the geese. I don't want to see them go."
And there's some question of whether it's the food that's attracting the
birds in the first place.
"I believe it's the 25 acres of lake that and the freshly mowed grass."
While the debate over what to do about the problem continues the problem
itself is getting messier by the day. The only thing everyone seems to be
able to agree on is that these snowbirds aren't going anywhere anytime
soon. They're here to stay at least until it's time to head back home for
the summer.
Recently there's been a lot of talk about Newcastle disease, a highly
contagious disease that affects pretty much anything with a feather.
Newcastle disease has hit the southland hard. The highly contagious poultry
infection has spread from chickens to exotic birds and beyond. What are the
chances then that migratory birds could bring the disease to the desert?
All this water fowl has some residents concerned about Newcastle disease.
Homeowners flocked to an informational meeting Monday morning, and heard
good news. Linda York with the Coachella Valley Wild Bird Center says
there's not much to worry about.
"The Newcastle with the water fowl is not a major problem."
So if the health risks are minimal, folks here say the problem somewhat
boils down to aesthetics. Who wants bird droppings all over the place?
Aesthetics and, practicality.
But while the abundance of bird droppings bothers some, others say the
trade off is worth it.
"The swans, the geese. It's a small price to pay for watching your step."
And experts say likely, they won't have to go. Not because of Newcastle
Disease anyway. The droppings may be another matter. Especially if these
snowbirds decide they like Country Club living.
Elk Valley Times, TN
TDA issues precaution to poultry producers, bird enthusiasts
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1618&dept_id=160496&newsid=7081572&PAG=461&rfi=9
February 17, 2003
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture has recommended precautionary measures for commercial poultry producers, game fowl breeders and bird enthusiasts to guard against the possible spread of exotic Newcastle disease (END) to the state.
"Tennessee's poultry industry in one of the fastest growing sector of agriculture and the second largest generators of farm income," said state Agriculture Commissioner Ken Givens. "We want to do everything we can protect our producers and to work with bird breeders in guarding
against this potentially catastrophic poultry disease."
END is an especially virulent and fatal disease affecting all species of birds. In October, the disease was diagnosed in game fowl in California and since has been found in several commercial poultry operations and, most recently, in game fowl in Nevada and Arizona. USDA has joined state health officials in mounting an intensive effort at culminating the costly disease from the U.S. So far, more than 2 million birds have been depopulated in the western states.
"Although there is no indication that Tennessee is directly threatened by this poultry disease, it is important that poultry growers and bird enthusiasts be aware of the signs of exotic Newcastle disease and take steps to safeguard their investment," said state veterinarian Ron Wilson, DVM.
END is spread primarily through direct contact between healthy birds and the bodily discharges of infected birds.
The disease does not affect human health but can be easily transmitted from farm to farm through virus-bearing material picked up on shoes, clothing and machinery.
According to Wilson, END affects the respiratory, nervous and digestive systems of birds. Incubation for the disease ranges for two to 15 days. An infected bird may exhibit respiratory problems such as sneezing, nasal discharge, coughing, nervous disorders such as muscular tremors, circling or paralysis, a decrease in egg production or the production of thin-shelled eggs; swelling around the eyes and neck; sudden death or increased death loss.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture offers some tips to poultry producers for strengthening biosecurity for the protection of their flocks: permit only essential workers and vehicles on the premises; provide clean clothing and disinfection facilities for employees; clean and disinfect vehicles (including tires and undercarriages) entering and leaving the premises; avoid visiting other poultry
operations; maintain an "all-in," "all-out" philosophy of flock management with single age flocks; control movement of all poultry and products from farm to farm; do not "skim" mature birds for sale to live-poultry markets; clean and disinfect poultry houses between each lot of birds; do not keep pet birds on the farm.
Do not hire employees who own pet birds; exclude service personnel who may have been in contact with other poultry operations within 24 hours; protect flocks from wild birds that may try to nest in poultry houses or feed with domesticated birds; control movements associated with the disposal and handling of bird carcasses, litter and manure; take diseased birds to a diagnostic laboratory for examination.
For pet bird and backyard poultry enthusiasts, the department recommends the following: request certification from suppliers that birds are legally imported or are of U.S. stock, are healthy prior to shipment and will be transported in new or thoroughly disinfected containers; maintain records of all sales and shipments of flocks; isolate all newly purchased birds for at least 30 days; and restrict movement of personnel between new and old birds.
TDA's Kord Animal Disease Laboratory at Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville offers a wide range of diagnostic services. More information about END can be found at the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service web site at www.aphis.usda.gov.
©Elk Valley Times 2003
Wisconsin Ag Connection, WI
More Poultry Disease Found in California
USAgNet Editors - 02/17/2003
http://www.wisconsinagconnection.com/story-national.cfm?Id=197&yr=2003
Four more commercial poultry farms in California have been found with birds infected with exotic Newcastle disease. Exotic Newcastle disease, which is harmless to humans and does not affect the safety of poultry meat or eggs, has infected flocks in California, Nevada and Arizona. Some experts believe the outbreak began with illegal fighting cocks used for gambling or as part of backyard flocks kept for food.
Exotic Newcastle is easily spread by vehicles and wild birds and is tough to eradicate because many birds die without showing signs of infection. California, the 9th largest U.S. poultry producer with sales of $3 billion annually, has been hit the hardest by the outbreak.
CFBF.com : Food & Farm News
FOOD & FARM NEWS
(Issue date: Monday, February 17, 2003)
http://www.cfbf.com/ffn/default.asp
Egg prices unaffected by chicken disease
The devastating disease hitting Southern California chickens has had little impact on egg prices, so far. More than 2 million chickens and other birds have been destroyed as a result of exotic Newcastle disease. But industry analysts say the birds were a small percentage of California's overall laying flock. The disease was confirmed (Friday) in a 13th commercial flock, within the current quarantine zone in San Bernardino County
San Bernardino Sun, CA
Article Last Updated: Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 11:25:18 PM MST
Farmers: Illness adds injury to economy's insult
By ALAN SCHNEPF, Staff Writer
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1185000,00.html
YUCAIPA - Jim Hoover used to get paid a few cents each for the hens culled out of his egg ranch in Yucaipa when they became too old to be productive.
But thanks to the outbreak of a deadly and highly contagious disease called exotic Newcastle, the old hens that once were an asset as an ingredient in things like canned chicken soup have turned into a liability.
The 670,000 birds at Hoover's ranch on the north side of Yucaipa do not have the disease. But like most egg ranchers in Southern California, he is seeing its effects on his bottom line.
And the added expense of dealing with Newcastle has arrived during the California egg industry's worst slump in history.
The disease, which does not pose a danger to humans, is now in its fifth month of ravaging Southern California poultry flocks.
Since its discovery in a backyard chicken flock in Compton in September, state and federal agriculture officials mandated a quarantine for all of Southern California. From San Diego to Needles to Ventura, birds can come in, but they can't go out.
Before the quarantine went into effect, Hoover shipped his old hens to Tulare County, where they were slaughtered and processed as canned chicken. The tough older birds don't make good fryers.
But with the quarantine in effect, Hoover can't send his non-productive birds up north. He has to kill his birds at his ranch and send them to a rendering plant in Los Angeles County.
Last week, for the first time since the Newcastle outbreak, Hoover had some chickens to cull. Instead of shipping live hens up to Tulare County as he had for years, Hoover had to figure out how to kill 100,000 birds. Because it was a job he had never done before, Hoover said, he had to learn on the fly, and it became a logistical nightmare.
The problem expanded as the truck loaded with the dead hens sat outside during a warm weekend. The mass of birds swelled in the heat. By Monday, they were overflowing the side of the truck. A neighbor complained to San Bernardino County Vector Control.
The problem has since been cleared up, and Hoover isn't going to let chickens sit outside over weekends any more, said Joan Mulcare, a manager for the San Bernardino Division of Environmental Health Services.
Hoover's problem, and the expense and extra work associated with it, is just one example of how exotic Newcastle is straining an already distressed California egg industry.
Hoover's delivery drivers spend an hour disinfecting themselves and their clothes and trucks every day so they don't spread the disease. One infected feather or a speck of chicken manure on the bottom of a shoe or a tire can transfer exotic Newcastle disease.
The time spent dealing with Newcastle is time that used to be spent packing and shipping eggs. The eggs also have to be sanitized before being shipped. Plastic shipping materials are being used instead of paper, and that can cost more, too. Hoover said the expenses add up.
But it's not as bad as having infected chickens.
If a single bird in a flock of 1 million tests positive, all of them will be destroyed in an attempt to eradicate the disease. The government pays owners fair market value for the euthanized birds.
The discovery of the disease at five more commercial ranches recently brings the number of infected ranches to 13. An emergency task force of more than 1,300 workers has also found the disease in about 1,700 backyard flocks.
About 2.4 million birds have been euthanized or are slated to be killed to slow the spread of Newcastle. Fighting the disease so far has cost taxpayers more than $30 million.
But the people who are suffering the most are egg ranchers. The producers say that since 1999, it has cost more to produce the eggs than wholesalers are willing to pay.
Egg ranchers have always experienced up and down markets, but the current downturn has been the most severe today's farmers can remember.
"These last 3 years have easily been the worst in history,' said Paul Bahan, owner of AAA Egg Farms in Lakeview. "A lot of guys who were here in the fall of '99 are gone.'
And now those who are still around have to deal with an epidemic of one of the world's most destructive poultry diseases.
"Everybody's down on their knees, and if you get the disease it could be the difference between surviving and not surviving,' Hoover said.
Bahan, who maintains a flock of 640,000 birds, said gigantic Midwestern farms are difficult to compete with. Their land is cheaper, they deal with fewer regulations and they can save money growing their own feed. Feeding chickens can amount to 60 percent of an egg rancher's expenses, he said.
So when a flock tests positive for Newcastle, producers must decide whether it's time to depart the business.
"For a guy who's been losing money for three years, this could be the first sizable check in a long time,' Bahan said of egg ranchers who are reimbursed if birds are euthanized because of the disease. "Do you put it back in? For the producer, that has to be a powerful thought.'
Ron Arnott, the owner of Arnott Citrus and Poultry Ranch in Mentone, had more than 130,000 hens in 2001.
But the tough market prompted him to sell off his Redlands land for a housing development and move to Mentone. Today he has 300 birds and is shooting for a niche market selling "range-laid' eggs.
His family has been in the business since the late 1940s and he's not sure how long it can keep going.
"If you put out 5,000 or 7,000 dozen a day, you can't do that for long,' Arnott said. "We have been selling assets property to pay for our habit of staying in the egg industry.'
Don Bell, a poultry specialist now retired from the University of California, said the industry will survive, but that there will be a shakeout of some of the smaller producers who get hit with Newcastle.
He said it helps that California is at an egg deficit: More eggs are eaten by Californians than are produced in the state.
"Is there a future for the egg industry in Southern California? Yes, there is. It's important to be close to your market,' Bell said.
And even though Newcastle is hitting the industry during an already tough period, it may hurt less than if it had struck when farmers were turning a profit.
"I think (egg farmers) would probably be more irritated if it happened when it's doing good,' said John Gardner, deputy chief agricultural commissioner for San Bernardino County.
Still, Gardner said, he knows one rancher who would get out of the business if his flock were hit with Newcastle.
"I can't say I blame him. How long do you stay in something where you're losing money?'
Union Tribune, CA
Exotic Newcastle disease hits flocks
By Elizabeth Fitzsimons
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 16, 2003
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030216-9999_1m16newcast.html
Two more cases of exotic Newcastle disease have been found in San Diego County, a state and federal task force announced.
One of the new cases of infected birds were involved backyard chickens, Larry Cooper, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, said Friday. But he would not say where the infected flock was found. Details about the newest case, announced yesterday, were unavailable.
Earlier in the week, Cooper said it was the policy of the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force not to release locations of diseased flocks. He said the policy was a safeguard against further spread of the disease.
"The danger is spreading the virus and the more people that know, the more curious they get," Cooper said. "Even reporters hanging around and not taking the right precautions. And they go onto the property that's infected, and they go somewhere else and then it's infected."
Cooper said the task force also does not name commercial ranches where infections have been found because doing so could imply the ranch had done something wrong and the publicity could hurt its business.
Officials also announced Friday that a San Bernardino poultry ranch tested positive for the disease. That ranch was the 13th commercial facility to become infected in Southern California since the outbreak was confirmed in Los Angeles County in October.
The ranch has about 16,000 chickens that will be destroyed. The task force has not finished appraising those birds or the ones in four commercial facilities that tested positive for exotic Newcastle earlier last week, including one in Valley Center.
Ranch owners are paid fair market value for their flock before the birds are euthanized.
The task force has changed the way it will handle some birds inside a quarantine zone, which includes eight Southern California counties and one each in Arizona and Nevada.
Birds that test positive for exotic Newcastle will continue to be euthanized. But in cases where birds are near infected birds, but haven't caught the disease and the owners can show they have a bio-security program in place, the birds will not be destroyed.
Further information about exotic Newcastle disease and the quarantine can be found on the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Web site, http://www.cdfa.ca.gov,cq or by calling the Exotic Newcastle Disease Hotline: (800) 491-1899.
San Bernardino Sun, CA
Article Last Updated: Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 12:45:36 AM MST
Bird owners cry fowl at community meeting about exotic Newcastle
By L.C. GREENE, Staff Writer
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1183355,00.html
PEDLEY - Angry fowl owners and breeders charged the Exotic Newscastle Disease Task Force on Friday with applying its rules haphazardly, at times eradicating the wrong flocks, and in general failing to provide adequate information to bird and poultry breeders.
Those owners leveled the criticism during a three-hour task force information meeting sponsored by the Mira Loma Chamber of Commerce that attracted more than 60 people to the Jurupa Valley Community Center in Pedley.
"You may have rules, but you don't go by them,' Susan Swallow of Norco said of the task force's methods.
Some poultry ranchers breeding and improperly transporting game cocks for illegal fighting are getting bypassed while uninfected pet birds are being destroyed without adequate avenues for appeal, she said.
The poultry-killing exotic Newcastle Disease virus was first detected in California in October last year. The disease Task Force, consisting of state and federal agencies, has established quarantines in all seven Southern California counties and is systematically testing commercial and backyard flocks.
Infected or potentially infected flocks are targeted for destruction.
Though some of the harsh assessments Friday night might spring from misperceptions or false rumors, the task force is making every effort to listen to bird owners and correct problems, said David Castellan, task force member and California Department of Food and Agriculture veterinarian.
"If it's broke, we want to fix it,' he said.
Castellan agreed the task force's toll free information line has experienced problems with callers complaining they can't reach the right people.
"We need to make that 800 system work better,' Castellan said.
The task force is also attempting to speed up its appeals process for ranchers whose birds are slated for destruction, he said.
Susan Henry, of Muscoy, said a slow and unresponsive appeals process failed to save her flock of mostly pet geese, ducks and chickens.
"I've lost every bird I owned,' she said, noting that her birds were not tested for the disease.
Castellan agreed to look into the complaints lodged by Henry and other bird owners.
Flocks selected for destruction either have tested positive for exotic Newcastle or have come into contact with infected flocks, he said.
The Mira Loma Chamber of Commerce agreed to host a second information meeting in about 45 days.
Though Swallow criticized the task force for unfair enforcement, she appealed to fellow ranchers to support the effort to eradicate the virus.
"They are not the enemy,' she said of the task force members. "They have a really hard job.'
San Bernardino Sun, CA
Another area egg ranch is stricken
16,000 more birds destruction target
By ALAN SCHNEPF, Staff Writer
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208~12588~1183244,00.html
A state agriculture official said Saturday that a seventh commercial egg ranch in San Bernardino County has tested positive for exotic Newcastle disease, adding 16,000 more chickens to the list of birds to be killed.
Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture, would not disclose the name or address of the ranch. But he said he believes it is southwest of the Cajon Pass, where several cases of Newcastle have been confirmed recently.
Last week, workers from a task force set up to eradicate Newcastle started the process of destroying about 72,000 birds at the 6-M Ranch near Fontana.
Authorities say exotic Newcastle disease poses no danger to humans and that poultry and eggs are safe to consume.
Although the disease appears occasionally on an isolated basis, the current outbreak is the worst since the early 1970s, when agriculture workers spent about $56 million and killed 12 million chickens.
About 2.4 million chickens have been or are scheduled to be killed since Newcastle's presence was confirmed in a backyard flock of birds in Compton on Oct. 1.
Because of its highly contagious nature, state and federal officials will destroy an entire flock if a single bird tests positive for the disease.
After finding Newcastle in backyard flocks, officials quickly set up a quarantine in San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles Counties on Oct. 3.
The quarantine banned taking birds outside of each county, but it failed to keep the disease out of the region's commercial egg ranches.
About 60 percent of the state's eggs are produced in Southern California, according to Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation.
Positive tests for the disease have since widened the quarantine to San Diego, Orange, Imperial and Ventura counties, as well as counties in western Nevada and Arizona.
Cooper said a flurry of positive tests in recent weeks does not necessarily indicate the spread of Newcastle is accelerating because there is a time lag between infection and the confirmation of a positive test.
The emergency task force has set up a weekly testing regimen at commercial egg ranches to prevent Newcastle from spreading.
Noncommercial bird owners, meanwhile, are being encouraged to monitor their flocks and call California's Newcastle hotline at (800) 491-1899 if they suspect the disease may be present.
For more information, go to www.cdfa.ca.gov
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, CA
Article Last Updated: Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 3:46:00 AM MST
Newcastle enforcers accused of bungled job
By L.C. GREENE, STAFF WRITER
http://www.dailybulletin.com/Stories/0,1413,203~21481~1183329,00.html
PEDLEY -- Angry fowl owners and breeders charged the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force Friday with applying its rules haphazardly, at times eradicating the wrong flocks, and in general failing to provide adequate information to bird and poultry breeders.
Those owners leveled the criticism during a three-hour task force information meeting sponsored by the Mira Loma Chamber of Commerce that attracted more than 60 people to the Jurupa Valley Community Center in Pedley.
"You may have rules, but you don't go by them," Susan Swallow of Norco said of the task force's methods.
Some poultry ranchers breeding and improperly transporting game cocks for illegal fighting are getting bypassed while uninfected pet birds are being destroyed without adequate avenues for appeal, she said.
The poultry-killing exotic Newcastle disease was first detected in California in October of last year. The disease task force, consisting of state and federal agencies, has established quarantines in all seven Southern California counties and is systematically testing commercial and backyard flocks.
Infected or potentially infected flocks are targeted for destruction.
Though some of the harsh assessments Friday night might spring from misperceptions or false rumors, the task force is making every effort to listen to bird owners and correct problems, said task force member and California Department of Food and Agriculture veterinarian David Castellan.
"If it's broke, we want to fix it," he said.
Castellan agreed the task force's toll free information line effort has experienced problems with callers complaining they can't reach the right people.
"We need to make that 800 system work better," Castellan said.
The task force is also attempting to speed up its appeals process for ranchers whose birds are slated for destruction, he said.
A slow and unresponsive appeals process failed to save her flock of mostly pet geese, ducks, and chickens, said Susan Henry of Muscoy.
"I've lost every bird I owned," she said, noting that her birds were not tested for the disease.
Castellan agreed to look into the complaints lodged by Henry and other bird growers.
Flocks selected for destruction either have tested positive for exotic Newcastle disease or have come into contact with infected flocks, he noted.
The Mira Loma Chamber of Commerce agreed to host a second information meeting in about 45 days.
Though Swallow criticized the task force for unfair enforcement, she appealed to fellow ranchers to support the effort to eradicate the virus.
"They are not the enemy," she said of the task force members. "They have a really hard job."
L.C. Greene can be reached via e-mail atl_greene@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-9337.
READ THIS ONE!
Los Angeles Times, CA
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ontario/news/la-ivo-newcastlenu15feb15,1,5514565.story
February 15, 2003
Inland Valley Voice
By Matthew Chin, Inland Valley Voice
A government task force assigned to eradicate a deadly avian disease has scaled back its rules for destroying backyard flocks.
Previously, all birds housed close to a flock infected with exotic Newcastle disease were scheduled to be destroyed. There was no distinction between commercial flocks and a family's pet chicken, nor whether a bird was infected or likely to become infected.
Area bird owners protested that policy, saying their animals were more than a commercial commodity or producer of eggs, but beloved family pets.
"They have to remember that these are people's pets," said Mike Swallow, a Corona resident with 17 chickens, 20 ducks and two geese.
The new policy released by the disease eradication task force spares birds who are not infected on property where the owner has demonstrated valid "biosecurity" steps to prevent the spread of Newcastle disease. Still, the owners must keep the birds quarantined.
The disease is not considered harmful to humans.
While the backyard bird owners can feel more at ease, the task force has not scaled back its operations.
Disease eradication task force officials said Friday that fowl at a seventh commercial egg ranch in San Bernardino County are infected with the disease.
The ranch's 17,000 hens pushed the county's total of birds that have been or will be destroyed to more than 1.7 million. That's a significant portion of the estimated 4 million to 4.5 million egg-laying hens in the county. Eggs are San Bernardino County's fourth-largest agriculture commodity, bringing in about $26.2 million a year.
This latest outbreak of the disease was first found in backyard flocks in Los Angeles County in October. The outbreak has since spread to five other Southern California counties and is concentrated in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It also has spread to Nevada and Arizona.
Thirteen Southern California egg ranches are infected with the disease. They house 2.4 million birds that will be or have been destroyed.
To keep their contracts, area egg ranches have to import eggs from outside the state, said Grif Thomas, a San Bernardino County agriculture enforcement officer.
Thomas said an outbreak of the disease in the early 1970s forced several smaller egg ranches out of business. It could happen again, he said.
"It would not surprise me that some businesses might not be here when this is all said and over with," Thomas said.
Los Angeles Times, CA
February 15, 2003
Landfills accept diseased chickens
Workers take precautions to ensure that carcasses or trucks will not spread avian virus.
By Buck Wargo, Inland Valley Voice
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/ontario/news/la-ivo-landfill15feb15,1,2947086.story
A San Bernardino County-owned landfill in north Rialto has been the center of controversy over perchlorate contamination of ground water, but few have batted an eye over it becoming the dumping ground for tons of diseased, dead chickens. Nearly 190 tons of birds killed at egg ranches across the county have been dumped at the Mid-Valley Landfill and more truckloads are expected as exotic Newcastle disease continues to spread among commercial and backyard flocks, said Peter Wulfman, manager of the county agency that oversees the landfill.
More than 1.7 million birds have been infected in San Bernardino County and nearly 2 million birds in California have been killed. The carcasses are being disposed of at landfills near the viral outbreaks, but Mid-Valley has been the busiest.
There is no danger from the decomposition of the birds leaching into the ground water supply, Wulfman said. Perchlorate, a component of solid rocket fuel, leeched into the ground water from munitions and fireworks storage on what is now county-owned land adjacent to the landfill. News of the chemical contamination prompted outrage from water companies serving Rialto and Fontana because perchlorate was found in their wells.
The portion of the landfill where the chickens are being disposed of opened a year ago and is a state-of-the-art cell with clay lining and a rubber membrane to contain the waste, Wulfman said.
"We feel totally safe that the chickens will not cause any problems and seep in the water," Rialto Councilman Kurt Wilson said. "I am sure our best interests are being looked at."
The lone complaint over dumping diseased birds at the 45-year-old landfill came in mid-January when landfill operators were leaving carcasses uncovered until the end of the day. Rialto officials and others were concerned the disease would be spread by birds picking at the carcasses, but workers began covering the birds immediately with dirt and trash. Landfill workers also use noisemakers to scare away any birds that fly into the site.
"I think they are taking serious precautions now, and we don't have any concern of the disease spreading," said Rich Scanlon, Rialto's director of airport and waste management.
There has never been a case of wild birds contracting the diseases from diseased carcasses, said Larry Cooper, a spokesman for the state Department of Food and Agriculture.
The precautions being taken at the landfill to prevent the disease from spreading are extensive, Wulfman said. Dump trucks that arrive with the dead carcasses are isolated from other vehicles and are disinfected before they leave the grounds.
Long Beach Press-Telegram, CA
Article Last Updated: Saturday, February 15, 2003 - 9:40:40 PM MST
Fighting off bird disease proves costly
By Alan Schnepf
Staff Writer
http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204~21478~1183425,00.html
YUCAIPA - Jim Hoover used to get paid a few cents each for the hens culled from his egg ranch in Yucaipa when they became too old to be productive.
But thanks to the outbreak of a deadly and highly contagious virus called exotic Newcastle disease, the old hens once considered an asset as staple ingredients for foods like canned chicken soup have become a liability.
Hoover, who has 670,000 birds at his ranch on the north side of Yucaipa, hasn't been hit by the disease. But, like most egg ranchers in Southern California, he finds the disease is hitting his bottom line.
And the added expense of dealing with Newcastle has arrived during the California egg industry's worst slump in history.
The disease, which does not pose a danger to humans, is now in its fifth month of ravaging Southern California poultry flocks.
Since the discovery of an infected backyard chicken flock in Compton last September, state and federal agriculture officials mandated a quarantine for all of Southern California. From San Diego to Ventura, birds can come in, but they can't go out.
Before the quarantine went into effect, Hoover used to ship the old hens to Tulare County, where they were slaughtered and processed into canned chicken. The older birds don't make good meat for fryers.
But with the quarantine in effect, Hoover can't send his nonproductive birds up north. He has to kill his birds at his ranch and send them to a rendering plant in Los Angeles.
Earlier this month, for the first time since the Newcastle outbreak, Hoover had some chickens to cull. Instead of shipping live hens up to Tulare County as he had for years, Hoover had to figure out how to kill 100,000 birds. Because it's a job he'd never done before, Hoover said he had to learn how to do it on the fly - and it became a logistical nightmare.
A truck loaded with dead hens sat outside during a warm weekend. The subsequent expansion made the mass of dead hens swell. By Monday, bird remains were pouring over the side of the truck.
The problem has since been cleared up. Hoover isn't going to let chicken carcasses sit outside during weekends any more, said Joan Mulcare, a manager for the San Bernardino Division of Environmental Health Services.
Hoover's problem, and the expense and extra work associated with it, is just one example of how Newcastle is straining an already distressed California egg industry.
Hoover's delivery drivers spend an hour disinfecting themselves and their clothes and their trucks every day so they don't spread the disease. One infected feather or a speck of chicken manure on the bottom of a shoe or a tire can transfer exotic Newcastle disease.
The time spent dealing with Newcastle is time that used to be spent packing and shipping eggs. The eggs also have to be sanitized before being shipped. Plastic shipping materials are being used instead of paper, and that can cost more, too. Hoover said the expenses add up.
But that's not as bad as dealing with birds infected with the disease.
If a single bird in a flock of 1 million tests positive, all of them must be destroyed in an attempt to eradicate the disease. The government pays owners fair market value for the euthanized birds.
The discovery of the disease at four more commercial ranches recently brought the total number of infected ranches to 12. An emergency task force of more than 1,300 workers has also found the disease in about 1,700 other "backyard" flocks.
About 2.4 million birds have been euthanized or are slated to be killed to slow the spread of Newcastle. Fighting the disease so far has cost taxpayers more than $30 million.
But the people who are suffering the most are egg ranchers. The producers say that since 1999, it has cost more to produce the eggs than wholesalers are willing to pay.
Egg ranchers have always experienced up and down markets. But the current downturn is devastating, the most severe that today's farmers can remember.
"These last 3-1/2 years have easily been the worst in history," said Paul Bahan, owner of AAA Egg Farms in Lakeview. "A lot of guys who were here in the fall of '99 are gone."
And now the ones who are still around have to deal with an epidemic of one of the world's most destructive poultry diseases.
"Everybody's down on their knees and if you get the disease it could be the difference between surviving and not surviving," Hoover said.
Bahan, who maintains a flock of 640,000 birds, said gigantic Midwestern farms are difficult to compete with. Their land is cheaper, they deal with fewer regulations and they can save money growing their own feed. Feeding chickens can amount to 60 percent of an egg rancher's expenses, he said.
So when a flock tests positive for Newcastle, producers now face the decision of whether it's time to depart the business.
"For a guy who's been losing money for three years this could be the first sizable check in a long time," Bahan said of egg ranchers reimbursed when they must euthanize their birds because of the disease. "Do you put it back in? For the producer, that has to be a powerful thought."
Ron Arnott, owner of Arnott Citrus and Poultry Ranch in Mentone, in San Bernardino County, said he had more than 130,000 hens in Redlands in 2001.
But the tough market prompted him to sell off the Redlands property for a housing development and move to Mentone. Today he has 300-plus birds and is shooting for a niche market selling "range-laid" eggs.
His family has been in the business since the late 1940s, but he's not sure how long it can keep going.
"If you put out 5,000 or 7,000 dozen a day, you can't do that for long," Arnott said. "We have been selling assets - property - to pay for our habit of staying in the egg industry."
Don Bell, a poultry specialist now retired from the University of California, said the industry will survive, but that there will be a shakeout of some of the smaller producers who get hit with Newcastle.
He said what helps is the fact California is at an egg deficit - more eggs are eaten by Californians than are produced in the state.
"Is there a future for the egg industry in Southern California? Yes, there is. It's important to be close to your market," Bell said.
And even though Newcastle is hitting the industry during an already tough period, it might hurt less than if it had struck when farmers were turning a profit.
"I think (egg farmers) would probably be more irritated if it happened when it's doing good," said John Gardner, deputy chief agricultural commissioner for San Bernardino County.
Still, Gardner said he knows one rancher who would get out of the business if his flock were hit with Newcastle.
"I can't say I blame him. How long do you stay in something where you're losing money?"
Antelope Valley Press
Vets seek help to fight deadly bird disease
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press Saturday, February 15, 2003.
By HEATHER LAKE
Valley Press Staff Writer
http://www.avpress.com/n/sasty7.hts
LAKE LOS ANGELES - Nearly 50 people turned out at the Littlerock Town Council meeting Thursday night where the main draw was a presentation on exotic Newcastle disease, which is wiping out the area's chicken population.
Three veterinarians from around the country were on hand with a slide presentation, detailing what the disease is, where they believe it came from and what is being done about it.
Numerous properties in Los Angeles County have been depopulated since the outbreak in October that has wreaked havoc in seven counties throughout Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.
"We are concerned it's going to get over the mountain pass into Central California," said Mike Davidson, a battalion chief with the U.S. Forest Service and public information officer for the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force.
Dr. Terry Beals, a disease eradication veterinarian from Maryland, explained that this strain of the disease is one never before found in the United States. Its name is derived from Newcastle, England, where the first outbreak occurred in the 1920s.
Most susceptible to the deadly disease are chickens, turkeys, cockatiels, amazons, cockatoos and budgies.
At this point, experts believe the disease traveled to the United States from Mexico because it is genetically identical to a virus outbreak that occurred there. Eradicating the virus in Southern California has become a constant battle and reluctant cooperation by bird owners only serves to magnify the problem.
The virus is easily spread via feces, saliva, direct contact, on people, clothing and equipment, as well as by illegally imported birds.
Gory photographs of diseased chickens did little to impress some in attendance Thursday who wanted straight answers as to whether their flocks were next.
Davidson explained that as calls of reported outbreaks come in, they are investigated; if the disease is detected, the birds are depopulated. Depopulated birds are appraised and the owners are compensated at fair market value. There is no compensation for dead birds, a seeming incentive for some bird owners to call at the earliest hint of trouble.
"If you wait until (birds) show signs ... they are generating the disease," Davidson said.
The task force is imploring the community to work with them to fight the disease.
"We need healthy poultry ... and we need your help," Davidson said. "If we don't do something ... it will continue to spread, it's an endless cycle."
In fighting the spreading virus, the task force is hiring individuals off the street, and reports of armed men shooting birds out of the sky has some residents concerned.
Pellet guns and other similar weapons are in fact being used by specially trained U.S. Forest Service task force members, who were trained by the FBI.
Many present Thursday had questions about the methods used to determine which properties need to be depopulated and tales of unjustified depopulations sparked emotions.
"Testing for END is not all that dependable," Davidson said.
To that end, the task force is depopulating not only birds that test positive, but those it believes to have been in "dangerous contact." That includes flocks who have possibly been in contact with loose birds, where good biosecurity measures are not being implemented, or where rodents are rampant.
Recent rains only served to improve the climate for the virus that lives longer in wet conditions but doesn't last well in dry, warm conditions.
The END hotline number is (800) 491-1899.
Members of the task force also will be at the next Lake Los Angeles Town Council meeting, at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Vista San Gabriel Elementary School, 18020 East Ave. O.
San Diego Union Tribune, CA
More chickens found infected with the exotic Newcastle virus
By Elizabeth Fitzsimons
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 15, 2003
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20030215-9999_2m15newcast.html
Another case of exotic Newcastle disease has been found in San Diego County, a state and federal task force announced yesterday. The infected birds were back-yard chickens, said Larry Cooper, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
Cooper would not say where the infected flock was found.
Earlier in the week, Cooper said it was the policy of the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force not to release locations of diseased flocks. He said the policy was a safeguard against further spread of the disease.
"The danger is spreading the virus and the more people that know, the more curious they get," Cooper said. "Even reporters hanging around and not taking the right precautions. And they go onto the property that's infected and they go somewhere else and then it's infected."
Cooper said the task force also does not name commercial ranches were infections have been found because doing so could imply the ranch had done something wrong and the publicity could hurt its business.
Officials also announced yesterday that another San Bernardino poultry ranch tested positive for the disease. That ranch was the thirteenth commercial facility to become infected in Southern California since the outbreak was confirmed in Los Angeles County in October.
The ranch has about 16,000 chickens that will be destroyed. The task force has yet to finish appraising those birds or the ones in four commercial facilities that tested positive for exotic Newcastle earlier this week, including one in Valley Center.
Ranch owners are paid fair market value for their flock before the birds are euthanized.
It was not clear yesterday how the newest San Bernardino flock was infected. "There's no particular way we can for certain tell where this virus came from on a given property unless it's really obvious," Cooper said.
The task force has changed the way it will handle some birds inside the quarantine zone, which includes eight Southern California counties and one each in Arizona and Nevada.
Birds that test positive for exotic Newcastle will continue to be euthanized. But in cases where birds are in close proximity to infected birds, but haven't caught the disease and the owners can show they have a bio-security program in place, the birds will not be destroyed.
Further information about exotic Newcastle disease and the quarantine can be found on the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Web site, http://www.cdfa.ca.gov,cq or by calling the Exotic Newcastle Disease Hotline: (800) 491-1899.
Oregon farmers cautious of bird virus
Extra measures sought to prevent deadly disease
Saturday, February 15, 2003
By MICHAEL ROSE
http://www.courier-journal.com/business/news2003/02/15/biz-2-chik15-5526.html
The (Salem, Ore.) Statesman Journal
Poultry farmers on the West Coast are increasing biosecurity measures, fearing the spread of a lethal bird virus that could wipe out a lucrative flock.
The virus — known as Exotic Newcastle Disease — has appeared in backyard flocks and eight commercial operations in California; in a backyard flock in La Paz County, Ariz.; and in a backyard flock in Las Vegas. Quarantines have been established in eight Southern California counties and in two counties in Nevada, and one is being developed for Arizona.
As was the case with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in British cattle in 2001, the infected birds and birds that may have come into contact with them must be destroyed. About 2 million birds have been "depopulated" to date, according to a report issued this week by the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The virus does not harm people, but people can spread the virus to farms by carrying it on their clothing, shoes or car tires.
That's why Karen Ingram, who describes herself as the "mama hen" to 72,000 chickens at her Polk County, Ore., farm, has banned some friends from her home because they keep parrots, which can carry the disease.
"It sounds crazy, but we would rather err on the side of caution," Ingram said.
People with business on her farm are asked whether they own birds before they are allowed to pass. Trucks that enter the farm are sprayed with disinfectant, and workers who make deliveries wear white, disposable coveralls and boots. Ingram keeps the car she drives into town far from the chicken barns.
Agriculture officials said the stringent precautions against the disease make sense.
Oregon's agriculture department, fearing damage to the state's $100 million poultry industry, has placed a quarantine on birds and equipment from areas where Exotic Newcastle disease has been found. It also has printed brochures in English and Spanish to alert bird owners, whether they run full-scale chicken farms or are hobbyists with backyard coops.
Birds suffering from the disease may have respiratory problems, diarrhea, paralysis and a drop in egg production. The last time Exotic Newcastle cut a swath through U.S. farms was more than 30 years ago.
"Its mere mention sends shivers up the spines of even the most stalwart in the industry," said James Hermes, a poultry specialist with the Oregon State University Extension Service.
So far, no cases of Exotic Newcastle disease have turned up in Oregon. But the highly contagious disease continues to spread among birds in California and Nevada.
"That is what is causing us big alarm: It's crossing mountains," said Nicole Negulesco, administrator of the Oregon Fryer Commission. The commission is issuing warning signs that its members can post on farm gates to keep people away from birds.
Spreading contagion from one farm to another has so concerned Oregon poultry producers that some were reluctant to meet face-to-face to discuss a response to Exotic Newcastle disease, said Jonathan Schlueter, of the Northwest Poultry Council.
With new cases of Exotic Newcastle turning up in California and Nevada daily, the situation is "not very heartening," said Oregon state veterinarian Andrew Clark. The agriculture department already has drawn up a list of suppliers for the equipment it would need to deal with an outbreak in Oregon.
The department also has sent a field veterinarian to Nevada to help officials respond to the disease and to gather information. Oregon's poultry producers hope it's an academic exercise, not a dress rehearsal.
The News Journal, DE
West Coast farmers watch for lethal chicken virus
By MICHAEL ROSE
The (Salem, Ore.) Statesman Journal
02/15/2003
http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/business/2003/02/15westcoastfarmer.html
On the West Coast, poultry farmers are stepping up biosecurity measures, fearing the spread of a lethal bird virus that can wipe out a lucrative flock.
The virus - known as Exotic Newcastle Disease - has appeared in backyard flocks and eight commercial operations in California; in a backyard flock in La Paz County, Ariz.; and in a backyard flock in Las Vegas. Quarantines have been established in eight Southern California counties, in Clark and Nye counties in Nevada, and one is being developed for Arizona.
There are no reported cases of Exotic New Castle disease in Delmarva, said Dr. H. Wesley Towers, Delaware's state veterinarian.
"We are monitoring the situation out there very closely," Towers said. The state is sending brochures about the disease to people who have show chickens, game birds and backyard chickens, he said.
The Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., which lobbies on behalf of poultry companies and farmers, posted information on its Web site in January asking growers to take precautions: "Though this area is about 3,000 miles away, there is still a risk to Delmarva's chicken industry."
As was the case with the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in British cattle in 2001, the infected birds and birds that may have come into contact with them must be destroyed. About 2 million birds have been "depopulated" to date, according to a report issued Tuesday by the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The virus does not harm people, but people can spread the virus to farms by carrying it on clothing, shoes or car tires.
That's why Karen Ingram, who describes herself as the "mama hen" to 72,000 chickens at her Polk County, Ore., farm, has banned some friends from her home because they keep parrots, which can carry the disease.
"It sounds crazy, but we would rather err on the side of caution," Ingram said.
People with business on her farm get grilled about whether they own birds before they are allowed to pass. Trucks that enter the farm are sprayed with disinfectant, and workers who make deliveries wear white, disposable coveralls and booties. Ingram keeps the car she drives into town far from the chicken barns.
Agriculture officials said the stringent precautions against the disease make sense.
Oregon's agriculture department, fearing damage to the state's $100 million poultry industry, has placed a quarantine on birds and equipment from areas where Exotic Newcastle disease has been found. It also has printed brochures in English and Spanish to alert bird owners, whether they run full-scale chicken farms or are hobbyists with backyard coops.
Birds suffering from the disease may have respiratory problems, diarrhea, paralysis and a drop in egg production. The last time Exotic Newcastle cut a swath through U.S. farms was more than 30 years ago.
"Its mere mention sends shivers up the spines of even the most stalwart in the industry," said James Hermes, a poultry specialist with the Oregon State University Extension Service.
So far, no cases of Exotic Newcastle disease have turned up in Oregon. But the highly contagious disease continues to spread among birds in California and Nevada.
Staff reporter Luladey Tadesse contributed to this story.
Press-Enterprise, CA
Quarantine fails to slow disease
NEWCASTLE: The deadly poultry virus spreads among egg farms, despite biosecurity efforts.
02/14/2003
http://www.pe.com/business/local/PE_BIZ_nnewcst14.f3a3.html
By LESLIE BERKMAN
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE
Exotic Newcastle disease has been diagnosed at four more commercial egg farms: one in Riverside County, two in San Bernardino County and one in San Diego County.
The joint federal/state task force charged with eradicating the highly infectious virus said these farms house 409,782 hens that will be euthanized.
That will bring to nearly 2.4 million the number of commercial hens destroyed in the attempt to stop the spread of the disease that is threatening California's egg industry. In addition, 94,441 backyard birds have been killed.
Task force epidemiologists said despite their stress on the need for biosecurity, the virus, which is nearly always fatal to poultry, has been moving between commercial farms or between commercial and backyard flocks.
Exotic Newcastle disease is not considered a public health risk, although it can cause pinkeye in people who come in direct contact with infected birds. The virus can be carried on people's clothing and feet or on trucks and other equipment.
Infection sources identified
Task force epidemiologists said Thursday that they had identified several risk factors that may have contributed to the latest outbreaks: One newly infected farm had employees with connections to another infected farm; a second was close to infected backyard birds; and the remaining two infected farms used the same industry-service company.
"I'm disappointed. I had big hopes the biosecurity we implemented would do the trick. Obviously it hasn't," said Doug Kuney, a poultry industry adviser who works for the University of California Cooperative Extension.
"We continue to have things slipping through the cracks, and that is why we have these new outbreaks," he added.
Kuney said some of the likely avenues of infection are farm employees who keep poultry at home or visit friends who own infected birds and contaminated egg racks that are not properly washed before they are moved between egg processing plants and farms.
Kuney said he is part of a Cooperative Extension team, headed by a veterinarian, that for the last several months has visited egg processing and packing facilities to make recommendations on improving biosecurity. "We completed Southern California and are in the San Joaquin Valley," Kuney said.
Meanwhile, egg ranchers and their neighbors are coping with a federal quarantine that prohibits the shipment of poultry beyond the boundaries of an eight-county federal quarantine area.
Old hens also euthanized
Since Saturday, Jim Hoover, a Yucaipa egg farmer, has been in the process of euthanizing 120,000 hens at a 650,000-hen ranch at Center Street and Jefferson Avenue. The birds do not have exotic Newcastle disease, Hoover said.
Instead, he explained that the birds are being discarded as part of a routine cycling of birds out of the henhouses as when they have grown too old to be productive.
Normally he said, such birds would be shipped alive to a processing plant in Turlock where they would be slaughtered and their meat used for hot dogs, chicken soup and other food products.
However, under new biosecurity regulations, the hens cannot be shipped to Turlock. So Hoover said he is euthanizing the hens on the farm with carbon dioxide gas and having Baker Commodities, a Los Angeles rendering firm, pick up the carcasses.
Joe Krygier, supervising environmental health specialist with the San Bernardino County Vector Control program, said Monday that agency and other city and county officials began receiving calls from people living near the Hoover ranch and from passersby saying they were repulsed by the sight and odor of dead birds piled in a trailer in the street.
Hoover said he had never been forced to euthanize "spent" hens before and was surprised how fast they deteriorated.
Krygier said Hoover has agreed to remove the birds from his property within 24 hours after they have been euthanized and to keep the bird carcasses covered. Krygier said his office will be monitoring for compliance.
Staff writer Karin Marriott contributed to this story. Reach Leslie Berkman at (909) 893-2111 or lberkman@pe.com
North County Times, CA
Newcastle hits again in North County
KIMBERLY EPLER
Staff Writer
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030214/93247.html
VALLEY CENTER ---- A second North County poultry farm has tested positive for Exotic Newcastle disease. It's the latest outbreak of the highly contagious virus that has resulted in the destruction of nearly 2.1 million chickens in Southern California since October.
Armstrong Egg Ranch in Valley Center will lose 150,000 birds. An additional 250,000 chickens at two infected sites in San Bernardino County and one in Riverside County will be destroyed, state officials said.
Test results from the three sites released Wednesday confirmed the outbreaks. Destruction of the birds was scheduled to begin Thursday.
Reports of the latest infection has the San Diego County poultry industry on edge.
"We kind of hold our breath every time we hear about an infection," said Eric Larson, executive director of the San Diego County Farm Bureau. "We wonder where it's going to happen next and hope that will be the last."
"The entire poultry industry in San Diego County is under threat," he said. "In fact, the entire poultry industry in Southern California is under siege."
Meanwhile, the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force, a coalition of state and federal officials, announced Thursday that it was changing the way some birds are handled within the quarantine zone.
In the future, when cases of the disease are discovered, veterinarians will weigh several factors before deciding whether to kill all of the birds at a given site, officials said.
Birds that test positive for Exotic Newcastle will be euthanized as will birds that don't have the disease but are in "dangerous contact" with infected birds, they said. However, other birds in the area may remain alive if their owners can demonstrate they have a program that protects and isolates the birds.
Last month, Gov. Gray Davis and the federal Department of Agriculture expanded a quarantine zone for the disease and declared states of emergency across Southern California. Eradication costs have risen to $35 million.
The state and the task force reported that the newest infections brought to 12 the number of