Here's something interesting Ruth....
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2004/03/04/2003101059 "Czech Republic to lift ban on imports of Taiwan chicken"
By Chiu Yu-Tzu
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Mar 04, 2004,Page 2
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Council officials yesterday stressed that Taiwan had no cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has been wreaking havoc in neighboring countries since January. However, the discovery of the less virulent H5N2 strain led to many countries banning Taiwanese poultry products."
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/22/2003099700 "Bird flu found in cats doesn't yet threaten humans: scientists"
AP , BANGKOK
Sunday, Feb 22, 2004,Page 5
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Bird flu killed three house cats near the capital, Bangkok, Thai officials reported on Friday. Veterinarians urged residents to stay away from their cats if there were chickens living nearby. Chickens and ducks have been the main victims of bird flu.
Health experts are concerned that if bird flu sickens other animals, it could mutate into a strain more easily passed on to humans".
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/02/16/2003098972 "Bird Flu death toll reaches 20 while officials plan action"
AP , BANGKOK
Monday, Feb 16, 2004,Page 5
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Bird flu has claimed its 20th fatality in Asia with the death of a 13-year-old boy in Thailand, while zoos across the region were reeling as the disease hit some exotic species after wiping out millions of chickens and ducks.
The boy died late Saturday at a hospital in the country's northeast, where he'd been in intensive care after testing positive for the avian flu virus on Thursday, said Charal Trinvuthipong, director-general of the Public Health Ministry's Department of Communicable Disease Control.
The disease is now confirmed in six human deaths in Thailand and 14 in Vietnam."
It would be interesting to know if the dead/sick chickens are coming to us in our cat food?????????
I feed a bunch of feral cats and if they were to get sick, it would spread for miles.
When a "Lady" wants kittens, I see strange tom cats, that I know are house pets, here waiting for a turn.
It would be easy to spread it from the cat food here, back to folks houses and to the people and other animals.
When I had a Mynah Bird, we fed him dog food, also fed to the breeding Cockatiels, and other birds.
Fighting Cocks are raised on dog food. (no, I didn't fight cocks, but we had several raisers here in the valley.)