EXCELLENT IDEA!J Castwell: Control of the lovely creatures could easily be established if they were given over to the 'Army Corps of Engineers' or, better yet, to make sure their future is secure, the U.S.P.S.
We could give them all packages to mail back to Canada and they would all die of old age waiting in line because only one window was open while three other postal clerks are gabbing in the back room.
Also heard on a medical channel that the Avian Flu has already mutated to where it can be passed from bird to animal. Currently, the only way humans can get it is from contact with the infected bird !!! They do expect this to mutate where it can pass from human to human. This is very serious indeed (not only just from the fly tying perspective). A pandemic happens every
30 to 40 years. They are saying we are due
for another pandemic, & the Avian bird flu
has a 50% mortality rate !!!!!
I raised my own birds for 35 years and even though avaian flu's have come and gone around here many times I never had a case of it in my flocks simply because I kept them well isolated. Im sure commercial growers who produce tying feathers do the same. My fear is if things get out of hand over zelous bureaucrats will order all flocks to be killed in the name of national security or some other silly reason... FB.
J.C.
Why pick on the employees of the United States Postal Service? Largest Mail Service in the World, they deliver more mail each day, than all the other Postal Services in the world (combined)! They give you the best mail delivery service in the world.
They are the only Postal Service that generate enough revenue, that they do not receive any tax dollars. 37 cents is all it costs to mail a letter anywhere in the USA (including Army Post Offices & Fleet Post Office around the world), all United State Territories (Guam, Purto Rico, Virgin Islands, ect.).
"Seven Little Postmen"
"Seven Little Postmen carried the mail.
Through Rain and Snow and Wind and Hail
Through Snow and Rain and Gloom of Night"
"Seven Little Postmen
Out of sight.
Over Land and Sea
Through Air and Light
Through Snow and Rain
And Gloom of Night...
Put a stamp on your letter
And seal it tight"
~Margaret Wise Brown (1952), from the book "Seven Little Postmen"
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 20 October 2005).]
Gee Parn, one might think you once worked for the Post Office.
When this flu virus finally does mutate to go from bird to human, it may be a mild mutation.
Castwell,
Sometimes I get annoyed when you are irascible, and short with folks. I know you don't suffer fools easily. Today, however, you must be feeling reel gud!! Your Canada Goose bit was a beaut! Thanks for making my day.
SweetStreamS
I don't know if Parn is, or was, a USPS employee, but I sure was. Gee I miss the discount on ammo...
Ed
This avian flu thing could be very big on several levels. First, when it gets into thehuman population, there could well be many deaths. When it gets here, it could wipe out many breeders birds far beyond our coveted genetic hackle breeders. A lot of folks all over the country have a lot of very expensive exotic birds.
For tyers, if you use Golden, Amherst, Reeves, Temminick's Tragopan and a few other birds feathers, they will not be available and possibly for a long time. All of that comes from Asia.
Yes, I am concerned about the potential damage this might bring us.
Happy Trails!
Ronn
It's all our fault, this was in this morning's "Scotsman" newspaper :-
"Scientists discover deadly bird flu began in Scotland
FRASER NELSON AND JIM GILCHRIST
Key points
? The first record of the H5N1 virus has been traced to an Aberdeen farm
? The avian flu has been tracked back to a Scottish chicken in 1959
? The virus has become deadlier over the past 46 years
Story in full THE strain of avian flu which has so far swept from South Korea to Russia made its world debut in 1959 inside a Scottish chicken, it has emerged.
Scientists tracing the history of the H5N1 virus have traced its first recorded episode to an Aberdeen farm. The dead bird was taken to Surrey for medical examination, after infecting two flocks of chickens.
But while British medical authorities are preparing to cope with a pandemic of a new H5N1 outbreak from South-east Asia, the case notes of the original Scottish case have not been consulted, on the grounds that the virus has grown far heartier and deadlier over the past 46 years.
The reams of research papers tracing the history of H5N1, which resurfaced in South Korea two years ago, show academics are unanimous in identifying the virus as being effectively made in Scotland.
A scientist identified only as Dr JE Wilson, of the Veterinary Laboratory in Lasswade, outside Edinburgh, is recorded as having worked on the case - sending the chicken to Addlestone, where the strain was medically isolated so it could be used in experiments. The Scottish H5N1 has been used in experiments, named "chicken/Scotland/1959".
It was the first of 21 avian flu outbreaks that have affected the world - including English turkeys in 1963, 1979 and 1991. But none showed the powers of contagion seen by the eight Asian countries to have confirmed H5N1, which has killed 69 people and 100 million birds.
Tom Pennycott, an avian veterinary specialist at the Scottish Agricultural College at Auchincruive, Ayrshire, said the virus may have the same title, but other characteristics will have changed over 46 years.
"The H5N1 that was found back in 1959 would have been quite different to the one that's around now," he said. "Similarly, there was an H5N1 down in Norfolk in December 1991 and it will be different to the H5N1 that's about just now."
He added that the only additional information he has been able to find about the H5N1 in Scotland was that two flocks of chickens were infected. The total number of birds affected, however, was not reported.
No medical agency in Scotland or England was able to give many details - except to say that the disease has become heartier and deadlier since it was found in Scotland. There is also no sign of Dr Wilson. The Moredun Research Institute at Penicuik said that it had no record of him and that he was likely to have passed away."
( I don't know about anybody else, but that statement kinda worries me!!!)
"Flu strains are named after the various H and N protein codes recognised by the immune system. No H5 flu had ever spread to humans before 1997, when Hong Kong reported six casualties.
The 1959 Scottish H5N1 was - like all its successors - incapable of moving from species to species. But this changed last year, when the South Korean version showed itself capable of infecting pigs, rodents and humans.
Scientists have been most alarmed at the fast rate of H5N1's mutation. For the first time, the virus can survive in chicken faeces and in dead meat, without requiring the flow of fresh blood. This has made it stealthier, claiming victims who had no obvious connection with the agricultural industry.
But its low human death toll suggests that the disease has yet to pass from human to human.
Meanwhile, Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, met British farmers yesterday and said he agreed with the National Farmers Union that chicken remained safe to eat."
So!! What happened to Doc Wilson???
------------------
Donald/Scotland
[This message has been edited by Donald Nicolson (edited 21 October 2005).]
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