Editorial from Volume I, Issue III, 2006
IWDS NEWSLETTER
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Thoughts on Avian Influenza and the "Scare Factor"
 
This week on television as I watched a news special on Avian Influenza and the possibility of an outbreak, I became angry. In a short time there is another dramatization of a potential epidemic scheduled, complete with people dying and crying.   So much of this is hyped up on the "scare scale" to an outrageous factor, that I can not help but feel that I have heard the screaming of "Wolf" one too many times. For us in America, these past few years have seen this phenomenon over and over when our politicians cried "weapons of mass destruction" and off we sent our young people to war.  They cried "we are running out of oil" and want us to tear up our wilderness to drill. They look for scapegoats and issues.  And now Avian Influenza is high on the screen.  And quite frankly I am tired of this politicalization of issues;  I am not a pawn!  And I resent these programs and tactics.

I also know that Avian Influenza is important.  My grandfather died in the flu epidemic of 1918.  I have studied disease for a large part of my adult life;  when my first child was born I carried her on my back as we set mist nets in Hawaii to study the effects of avian malaria on native birds.  I even have the dubious honor of having a coccidia (a protozoa living in intestines that gives a good case of the "runs") named after my husband and myself because we discovered it in a cardinal in Hawaii.   ...vanriporum".    I tell you this to let you know I am not a stranger to diseases, especially in birds.  And the threat of disease is always real. 

Could Avian Influenza jump to humans and become a pandemic and kill thousands and thousands of people?  Yes it could. 
Should be take precautions?  Sure. 
Should we be vigilant?  Of course. 
Should we live in a state of fear?  Absolutely not. 
Should we encourage programs such as those that are airing this month to hype the problem and create panic?  Good Grief NO. 

The wonderful quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first Inaugural Address,  "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" comes to mind.  If a pandemic comes, panic will not help.  Ignorance is our greatest enemy.  And as keepers of our wonderful pigeons and doves, we must fight ignorance at every opportunity.  Or else they will be knocking at our doors to exterminate our flocks.  The very words "Bird Flu" have people wondering if our pigeons are dangerous.  Please read the articles that we have in this issue and the winter issue of the IWDS journal and remember:  Pigeons are very resistant to the AI virus.  They are NOT a current threat in the transmission cycle.
If someone asks, point out that we don't allow our birds to mingle with wild birds.

And on a practical side, keep your lofts clean so when visitors see your birds, they can see that they are not harbingers of disease.  When you see a symptom in your flock of any disease, treat it promptly.  Vaccinate your breeders for those diseases that we can treat.  Don't spread fear.  Don't encourage people to panic about Bird Flu. Don't propagate or allow people in power to use Avian Flu as a means to sell advertising on television programs and hype the issue.  It is a real issue and deserves better.  We as members of the IWDS are the white dove professionals.

SVR

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