It boooootiful - Its bird flu (again)
Tens of thousands of turkeys are being culled at a Suffolk farm as efforts continue to prevent the spread of a mass outbreak of bird flu. Government vets say 50,000 turkeys have been gassed so far at the Bernard Matthews site near Lowestoft where the H5N1 strain of the virus was found. Officials, who said a further 100,000 birds would be killed, denied they had responded slowly to the outbreak.
Ladies & gentlemen, perspective please. I know that that sort of attitude doesn’t fill column inches or provide rolling news channels with content but it would seem that the H5N1 strain of the virus which has infected 270 people, and killed 164 … most in south east Asia … since errrrrrrrrr 2003.
So dear readers as we stare into the avian aybss, lets start the week with a little comparision: what about another greatest threat to the UK, the motor car?
The total number of deaths in road accidents fell slightly by 1 per cent to 3,201 in 2005 from 3,221 in 2004.
... not just a few chicken licken farmers in Laos: over 3,000 bulldogs last year. However RTA deaths just dont hit the mark. Ebola good, hypothermia? NFI ! So, given that by some miricle, melting Arctic ice sheets didn't drown us all over the weekend, we now have the next headlines of DOOOMMMMM
None of this has stopped just about every meejar pundit you care to mention speculating that Armageddon is just around the corner & then of course, there is the governments response…
The Government is preparing "very seriously" for the possibility of a human flu pandemic as officials battle to contain the first avian flu outbreak in the UK. Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, spoke out as experts were continuing to slaughter 159,000 turkeys at a Bernard Matthews farm in Suffolk where the potentially deadly H5N1 strain, which can be transmitted to humans, was found yesterday.
Given that 'experts' are busy slaughtering turkeys, am I alone in wishing that they would extend the cull to include the Westminster Village?
Comments
dave - i am more worried about getting stuffed at Christmas than meeting an asian bird
Posted by: hugh | October 31, 2005 6:40 PM
Or the classic...
'I ain't worried about that there bird flu'
'Oh? Why not?'
'Coz I'm a bloke'
Posted by: Dave t | January 12, 2006 7:33 PM
So... turkey sarnies at The Towers the next time we come a-visitin'?
Posted by: Kim du Toit | February 5, 2007 6:39 PM
Someone needs to remind the Press mavins of the original detection of H5N1: Scotland, 1959, IIRC.
Cheers
Posted by: J.M. Heinrichs | February 6, 2007 3:13 AM