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H5N1 Outbreak in Central Valley, California: dead cows piled by roadsides

39 points| spats1990 | 1 year ago |latimes.com

12 comments

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bryant|1 year ago

I have to assume that a vaccine using legacy methods (let alone newer technology) would be easily achieved at this point, and that at least in humans, a possible outbreak could be blunted in under a year. So is it just not cost effective to do it for cattle?

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edit: leaving my original typed comment in place above. But I found this - https://texasfarmbureau.org/usda-approves-first-h5n1-vaccine...

nasmorn|1 year ago

Looking at the picture of the Central Valley dairy farm, maybe this shouldn’t exist? Where is the grass?

TaylorAlexander|1 year ago

Absolutely should not exist. California’s Central Valley cattle farms are notorious for giving people a glimpse of how inhumane factory farming is. You drive down I-5 and the smell of these places is overpowering for miles. You can’t ignore them and when you see them you know that no creature should be forced to live like that. I’ve heard from several friends that those farms contributed to their decision to stop eating animal products.

These farms are inhumane for the animals, and they exist as a fragile ecosystem at risk of bacterial or viral outbreaks. In nature, plants and animals coexist with insects and microorganisms in ways which are more robust to catastrophic collapse. But these cattle farms are like agricultural monocrops - dead dirt and one kind of creature, fed by machines and vulnerable to the rapid spread of disease and sickness. It’s bad for the animals and it’s bad for us.

So you’re absolutely right, this should not exist!

fakedang|1 year ago

> The diseased carcasses are brought to Baker’s rendering site in the Fresno County town of Kerman, where the bodies are “recycled” and turned into “high protein” animal feed and fertilizer...... ”

Ahh USA, where the standards for the meat industry are obnoxiously low.