N&O NC Poultry farms on Guard

As I noted in an earlier post the avian flu now spreading around the world is a major threat to Eastern NC. Apparently someone else things so as well. The N&O details the state and federal efforts to identify and quarantine the disease when it is identified in the state, The article suggests that there may not be a way to prevent the disease from breaking out but the foucs is on isolating any infected flocks. The planned response to a disease outbreak is pretty brutal.

If the disease is found, the farm would be quickly quarantined and the disease traced to its source, Marshall said. Every chicken would be gassed with carbon dioxide, and over the next two or three months, the bodies would compost inside the houses. That way, the disease never leaves the farm. A farmer could not raise chickens again until the Agriculture Department determined that the houses were disease free

. The article confirms the threat not just to poultry but to the state's economy. The outbreak in France "made North Carolina agriculture officials think twice about their theory that bird flu is more of a threat to humans than to the state's $2.7 billion poultry industry." Let's hope it never happens but it's good to know the someone is doing something about it.