DES MOINES, Iowa — With avian influenza continuing to wreak havoc in northwest Iowa, poultry producers may get some help disposing of more than 20 million chickens, turkeys and ducks infected by the deadly virus, officials said Wednesday.
The
A fourth permit for another incinerator is possible, depending on the need, said Kevin Baskins, a DNR spokesman.
The permits come as some landfill operators hesitate to accept the growing number of dead birds, fearing contamination.
On Wednesday, six more bird flu outbreaks were announced, including the state's first in a backyard flock — ducks in
They push to 34 the number of turkey, chicken and now duck flocks that have been infected with the H5N2 virus.
Altogether, birds in 11 counties have been infected. Most of the facilities are commercial operations in northwest Iowa, with one in central Iowa's Madison County.
HELP FROM LANDFILLS
As producers grapple with euthanizing infected poultry, the state agency is encouraging landfills to accept some of the millions of birds that have died or been destroyed to help contain the disease.
In a letter to state landfills Wednesday, Iowa DNR Director
The birds need to be disposed of in a way that protects the environment and prevents the disease's spread, they said.
Larry Oldenkamp, director of operations at Northwest Iowa Area Solid Waste Agency, said local leaders have been hesitant to accept some of the 9.7 million birds that have been infected in the counties the agency serves.
So far, several operations struggling with the disease are dealing with disposal on-site.
For example, Sunrise Farm in Osceola County has composted about 2 million of about 3.4 million hens infected, the state said. And Rembrandt Enterprises, the nation's largest outbreak with nearly 5.7 million laying hens, also is composting, the state said.
Oldenkamp said chief among concerns is whether transporting and disposing of birds infected with H5N2 could infect poultry operations near the landfill.
The federal government has struggled to determine how bird flu is spreading since it was discovered five months ago, despite heightened biosecurity efforts such as changing clothes and boots before entering barns, and disinfecting equipment and vehicles.
Scientists believe the virus is spread by migratory birds such as ducks and geese that leave their droppings on farms. But some also have speculated that farmworkers are unknowingly transporting bird flu, or it is spreading on dust or bird feathers blown by the wind.
State and federal health officials have stressed that they consider the risk to people from the virus to be low. No human infections with the virus have been detected and there is no food safety risk for consumers.
TRANSPORTATION SECURITY TIGHT
Oldenkamp said biosecurity around infected birds slated to be transported is tight. The birds are placed in "bio-zip" bags that decrease the time it takes to compost them, pushing temperatures high enough to also kill the virus. Veterinarians have said that the virus doesn't live long outside a living host.
Baskins, the DNR spokesman, said the birds must sit for three days so high temperatures inside the bag will kill the virus before they're moved.
Landfills also are required to meet certain biosecurity protocols, such as segregating the dead birds and immediately burying them, Baskins said. Trucks also must be disinfected before they leave the landfill sites as well.
Oldenkamp said his board is concerned about the disposed birds' effect on water that might leach from the landfill. That water is collected and treated off-site.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/06/disposal-struggle-iowas-bird-flu-outbreak/70918982/
Wild animals in drought-stricken Western states are dying for a drink
For the giant kangaroo rat, death by nature is normally swift and dramatic: a hopeless dash for safety followed by a blood-curdling squeak as their bellies are torn open by eagles, foxes, bobcats and owls.
They’re not supposed to die the way they are today — emaciated and starved, their once abundant population dwindling to near nothing on California’s sprawling Carrizo Plain, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles, where the drought is turning hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland into desert.
Without grass, long-legged kangaroo rats cannot eat. And as they go, so go a variety of threatened animals that depend on the keystone species to live. “That whole ecosystem changes without the giant kangaroo rat,” said Justin Brashares, an associate professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of California at Berkeley.
Endangered kangaroo rats are just one falling tile in the drought’s domino effect on wildlife in the lower Western states. Large fish kills are happening in several states as waters heated by higher temperatures drain and lose oxygen. In Northern California, salmon eggs have virtually disappeared as water levels fall. Thousands of migrating birds are crowding into wetlands shrunk by drought, risking the spread of disease that can cause huge die-offs.As the baking Western landscape becomes hotter and drier, land animals are being forced to seek water and food far outside their normal range. Herbivores such as deer and rabbits searching for a meal in urban gardens in Reno are sometimes pursued by hawks, bobcats and mountain lions. In Arizona, rattlesnakes have come to Flagstaff, joining bears and other animals in search of food that no longer exists in their habitat.
“We’ve seen an increase in coyote calls, bear calls, mountain lion calls — all the way to mice and deer,” Catalano said of the distress calls made to his department by residents. “At your house, everything is green and growing and flowering, and they’re being drawn to it.”
The state wildlife agency said it is preparing for a deluge of calls reporting bear sightings from Lake Tahoe this summer when berries and other foods they eat disappear for lack of rain.
About 4,000 mule deer have vanished from a mountain range near Reno since late last year, probably because of drought. “Our level of concern is very high,” Catalano said. Nevada has placed low fiberglass pools called guzzlers that hold up to 3,600 gallons of water at more than 1,000 wilderness areas across the state to provide water for wildlife.
For a second year, the Arizona Game and Fish Department warned people in Flagstaff, near Grand Canyon National Park: “Don’t be surprised if you see more wild animals around town in the next few months. Drought conditions may cause creatures like elk, deer, bobcats, foxes, coyotes and even bears to wander further into town than normal, as they seek sources of food and water.”
California water regulators adopted unprecedented restrictions on how people, governments and businesses can use water amid the state's ongoing drought. (AP)
In California, where mandatory water restrictions were passed by the state water board on Tuesday, humans are already coming into contact with desperate wildlife from the 250,000-acre Carrizo Plain National Monument in the Central Valley, near Bakersfield.
“Just today, 20 minutes ago, four coyote cubs arrived” from Bakersfield’s outskirts, said Don Richardson, curator of animals for the California Living Museum, which has an animal shelter in the city.
“We actually get everything from reptiles to mammals,” Richardson said. “We have 13 San Joaquin kit foxes, an endangered species. They were abandoned, orphaned. The kit foxes’ health was impacted by the struggle to make it with reduced resources. Then, of course, we see a lot of birds of prey — owls and golden eagles.”
(excerpt, the rest is at the link)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/animals-in-the-wild-are-dying-for-a-drink-in-the-drought-stricken-west/2015/05/06/260312aa-eac6-11e4-9767-6276fc9b0ada_story.html
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