What affect will this have on the import of feathers?
Swing hard, in case they throw the ball where you’re swinging. Duke Snider
That is a good question.
Luckily we have some good hackle producers stateside.
-ST
[url=http://www.flyfishingwis.com:07324]www.flyfishingwis.com[/url:07324]
RW here,
I have my own rooster.
“We fish for pleasure; I for mine, you for yours.” -James Leisenring on fishing the wet fly-
can you imagine what would happen if Hoffman and the rest got infected. It would require (I think) the destruction of there intire stock of birds. 1000.00 cape anyone?
Rich
From the reports we are getting over here, it appears that migrating birds are the carriers especially ducks. The nearest outbreaks have been in Rumania and Turkey which are still quite a way off. These countries are on the main north/south migration routes from Siberia. Here in Scotland most of the wild fowl come down from Greenland and Iceland.
As the transmission is between wild and domestic ducks, heed JCs warning and don’t kiss a duck.
Donald/Scotland
Joe is praying for avian flu. That is my hero and mentor, Joe, of Joe’s Worms & Juicy Grubbs, and Special Protein Drink. Joe says you can kiss his worms as much as you like.
I would think for those tyers that use exotic
plummage (& already pay a high price for these feathers), it would be one swift kick
in the Boo Boo…Boo Boo !!!
I wonder how much of an effect the flu would actually have on American fly tyers. Most tyers that I’ve observed in local shops reach right for the Whiting 100’s or Metz saddles when they tie. I honestly don’t recall seeing an Indian or Chinese neck in the last couple of years.
I have sixty or seventy imported hen and rooster necks that I collected over 30 years ago, mostly from Herter’s and Fireside Angler. At $15 for a dozen rooster necks (color selection their choice), they were a pretty good deal. Because the genetic hackles are so good and easy to tie with, I seldom use the imported stuff. In smaller sizes, like #14 and smaller, the usable portion of the imported hackle is very small and several feathers are needed.
Does anyone know the percentage of necks and saddles that are still imported? I think we can survive the bird flu with flying colors. 8T
You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it’s a real short camping season.
For those of you who think that this flu is not coming to the US have there head in the sand. if it is not here now it will be. This is a very uneducated shot in the dark but here goes. the first case of bird flu in us migaritory birds… before feb. of next year. Reason the migaratory birds that head south to Asia summer with the birds that fly down the western flyway in the US.
Rich
Avian Bird Flu (Influenza), is a very serious concern to medical personnel, throughout the world. Influenza?s are caused by a virus, and there are no permanent vaccine’s or medicine?s, to treat or cure a virus. Most influenza?s are a cross-over from swine to humans, but influenza?s are also found in other animal groups (poultry is a prime source).
Every year there is a flu shot offered to the public, this is vaccine is determine a year ahead of the flu season, by an international commission on what strain of influenza will be the main concern for the next influenza season. It is basically a crap shoot, to get the right vaccine produced, ahead of time.
Influenza?s mutate, the influenza organism has the ability to genetically change and can become resistant to previous vaccines. Different influenza?s can vary on their effect and how they effect the infected person.
The last deadly outbreak of influenza of 1918, 25% of the population became infected by the Spanish Influenza, and it killed 675, 000 people in the USA. The death toll was 20 times the total deaths from influenza in the previous 10 years before 1918. Throughout the world no country was spared this pandemic.
The only persons who have become infected by this Avian Bird Flu (Influenza), have been people who have handle infected live poultry. Lets hope (and pray), this Influenza virus, does not mutate.
There are two means of decontaminating a item of infectious organism?s .
-
A solution, comprised of 1 part chlorine bleach - to - 9 parts water mixture. Used to clean suspected surfaces, or to soak suspected materials in.
-
Irradiation Exposure of the item to a radioactive material in a shielded room. Irradiation is used in Europe for all food products that can carry infectiou organisms. In the USA all spices have been irradiated since the 1960?s, and recent years been approved for other food
Senior Instructor of Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Warfare.
U.S. Army, Retired
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 19 October 2005).]
According to news reports I have seen, they have explained this.
The flu of 1918 was in fact an avian flu. They have discovered this by lung tissue samples that have been stored and the virus was studied from those samples. The scary part is that in 1918 it did mutate from birds to humans and the virus that is present now is very similar under a microscope. THe good part is that by resurecting this 1918 virus is that it is a valuable tool in trying to come up with a vacine.
Rich, Steve, and Big Brown,
My bad! I guess I must have sounded a little stupid to you guys with my last post. I was commenting on the original question that McManus asked about a possible freeze on imported feathers. My post was intended to answer only that question. From that prospective, I think we as fly tyers would be fine. We seem to rely on home grown materials more and more frequently. I wish that the same could be said for energy.
Obviously, we would not be getting by with “flying colors” if we experience another 1918 pandemic. Hopefully, we will be avoid such an outbreak. It was not my intention to be little or make light of that possibility. 8T
You had better learn to be a happy camper. You only get one try at this campground and it’s a real short camping season.
[This message has been edited by Eight Thumbs (edited 19 October 2005).]
Last year, I was planning on entering Ronn Lucas’s Salmon Fly Tying Contest. I planned on using European Bluejay wing material for a Salmon Fly version of the Colonel Downman’s Fancy. Found that it was impossible to locate any European Bluejay feathers for the pattern
Reason for the difficulty was the ban on all shipment of poultry and poultry materials (including feathers) internationally, because of the Avian Bird Flu.
I only have a yeoman’s understanding of the disease, from my Army Training (in regards to biological agents), but even that is enough to scare me on the possible disaster ahead in regards to Avian Bird Flu.
As Fly Tiers, we should always be aware of the possible dangers we expose ourselves to, when dealing with bird skins, and animal pelts. There are many organisms that can survive on capes and pelts, which can make us very ill.
As Dan Rupe suggested in his article this week on toxic algae, most doctors would not have a clue to some of the organism’s we may have become ill from. Have you ever worked with rabbit hair, there is a disease called “Rabbit Fever”, there is one for other caped critters, including Camels.
Early vaccines against Smallpox, was to infect a person with Cowpox (which is less severe than Smallpox, yet protects the person eposed to Cowpox from Smallpox).
So I suggest we avoid trying to ship things that should not be shipped, for everyone safety, and do without. Lets not open Pandora’s Box…
I hope the flu hits some of gazillion flocks of resident Canada Geese we have around here that foul up the water and stream banks with their calling cards 
.
Bamboozle:
I do not know where you live, but I will tell you how we handle excessive populations of Canadian Geese in the Twin Cities (Saint Paul/Minneapolis) area, in Minnesota.
Every year when the Geese have molted (and the Goslings are old enough to take care of theirselves), we have "Round-Up’s on the local lakes and ponds throughout the Twin Cities, where there is too many Geese.
The Goslings are seperated from the Adult Geese, and the DNR ships them to Wildlife Protection Areas throughout the State. The Goslings have never made a trip south for the winter so they do not have the lake/pond that they were raised on imprinted in their memory. They will hopefully return in the Spring, to their new home which is better suited for their survival.
The Adults are culled with a few to be released back out onto the water, the others are shipped off to be processed. The porcessed Geese are then made available to Kitchens for the Homeless, and for distribution through Food Shelves for the families.
There is no hunting within the Twin Cities area, and this is the only way we can maintain a healthy population of Geese, and also protect the public health and safety problems that occur with too many Geese. While at the same time trying to be humain in how the excess Geese are handled.
In the throughout the Twin Cites area, we have hundreds of lakes where you can catch fish (Panfish, Bass, Walleye, Pike, and Muskies). In the suburbs surrounding Saint Paul/Minneapolis, we have healthy populations of Deer, Racoons, Pheasents, Possums, Fox, and many more wild critters (we even have hawks, falcons, and bald eagles).
Just this morning while delivering the morning newspapers (4 AM) I almost hit a Possum as it was crossing the street in neighborhood where I deliver papers. And there are many mornings I find a deer in the front yard of a house as I am delivering a paper.
The Twin Cites area is consider a forested area by the State DNR (Department of Natural Resources), because of the heavy concentration of trees that we have on our properties.
[This message has been edited by Steven H. McGarthwaite (edited 20 October 2005).]
Steven:
Here in Pennsylvania we do:
Nothing; except a few local “No Feeding” signs that have a minimal effect.
This while our governor takes weekly trips to Philthydelphia to do Eagles football commentary.
It sounds like Minnesota has a great program in effect. The problem here is our winters can be so mild that the Geese go nowhere; it’s disgusting.
i don’t think we have much to worry about with this bird flu thing. last year, there were 8 reported cases of avian flu in humans. so far this year, we have only had 3 or 4.
the media needs something to get their knickers in a twist about, so they used this. anyone remember the shark attack off the coast of florida in june? it was nothing out of the ordinary, but since the global headlines were a bit thin for a day or two, they jumped all over the story.
don’t lick your capes when you’re tying. you’ll be ok.
on a side note, we’ve got some really annoying ducks at the pond where my wife likes to go running. the running track is covered in duck mess, and the whole park smells pretty rotten. i’ve been thinking of taking care of the problem myself…
At least they are not blaming the 1918 flu on swine anymore. I can give up geese but not bacon.
Sooner or later we will be hit by some massive pandemic. It might be a flu or e boli or something else.
The flu is a problem because it takes such a long time to prepare a vaccine. The best vaccine would be from an actual virus, but that would leave precious little time to prepare the vaccine for the public.
Personally, I’d gag all liberals (who tend to keep their mouths open at all time). If they suffocate, Rush will forgive us.
I was not clear in what I said so far the Avian flu is not a huge threat to humans I was simply saying that it will be here in the birds and could affect someone like metz or whiteing or hoffman and wipe out years of genetic work on our tying feathers.
Rich
This should be a really big wake up call for tyers who tend to lick their fingers to control the materials while working with feathers and furs. NEVER, NEVER put fingers into mouth,eyes or nose when using any type of natural material.
I usually keep a very small container of water or a small piece of sponge in a disposable plastic container (Philadelphia cream cheese container is perfect)to moisten fingers. The danger is with GIARDIA as well as any other type of avian virus that could be retained within the feathers. Do we REALLY know that the products coming in from abroad have been scrutinized by reputable people as being from healthy birds or animals?
Those who cannot resist picking up of free materials like roadkill or feathers in parks should in my opinion be VERY careful about thoroughly cleaning them prior to use. While I have not heard or seen evidence that the deer wasting disease is in our area, I still prefer to purchase whatever I need from a fly shop but even so, I still employ caution when handling the materials.