Self-Sufficiency in Style
Anticipating Avian Flu
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Self-Sufficiency in Style Anticipating Avian Flu
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At the time of writing, avian or bird flu, occupies every mind. Many questions arise. Few are answered satisfactorily. Self-sufficient smallholders have more problems, fortunately they have more possibilities too. |
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is the risk real? It probably is. Almost all authorities, many with no obvious financial interest, say that it is. There seems to be no reason to think they overstate the likelihood of a pandemic. Is it as dangerous as they think possible? History, 1919, suggests that it could be pretty bad, and even within the writer's memory, Asian Flu in the 1950s emptied the schools and sent most of the population to bed at one time or another. Alas, many elderly people did die. |
A hidden danger? |
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Don't Panic! |
Anyway, on the precautionary
principle, we are right to take the warnings seriously, even if a degree of
cynicism is equally in order. Panic (even mild orderly panic) is a human right. We are entitled to take precautions, within the law, to protect ourselves and our families. The nauseating sight of the usual over-protected official, calmly ordering us "in the public interest" not to take any precautions, is one of the staples of the later stages of every crisis. |
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For the self-sufficiency family, the problem from that point takes two routes: endlessly intertwined and impacting one on the other: Animal health and Human Health |
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At the time of writing, the British government is desperately trying to
compile a reliable list of poultry keepers. Why they have not got one,
given the number of forms we all complete, is one of the usual mysteries. Unlike some continental European countries, they have not ordered British poultry indoors yet. Who is right? It is difficult to say. Britain's State Veterinary Service is so hopelessly criminal and incompetent that anything is possible. We have just found out that the famous parrot with Avian Flu was actually in approved quarantine facilities run by a known criminal. Details The State Veterinary Service are incapable of making any rational decisions. They are still covering up for the epidemic before last. They will get round to dealing with Avian Flu, long after the crisis has passed. The best they will manage is bluff, bluster and bullying. |
Just don't mention dead parrots! Unless you know them, it is hard to imagine how a government department could get in such a mess. If you know them, and the writer does, it is only too easy. |
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Vaccination will not be allowed by the industrial scale producers. They prefer culling with compensation. |
The list of poultry keepers is capable of many uses: A vaccination campaign: although that seems unlikely. The big factory scale producers will, as always, favour a compensated cull rather that vaccination. It could be used to enforce and police an instruction to move all poultry under cover. Hardly likely to be that effective in a country with so many wildfowl, even feeding with outdoor pigs. The list, could indeed be used to enforce and police a cull of poultry. Whatever the eventual use, there is little the smallholder can do except to co-operate. If the government orders a cull of poultry, it is better to obey the law - and deal with the inevitable arbitrary abuses by government veterinarians later. We are dealing with a potential human pandemic. Hiding up your hens is not an option. |
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The best option for smallholders, even in countries with more
capable and honest government veterinarians, is to make quite sure you
have things organised so that you can get all your poultry indoors in a
hurry. Hammer, nails, wood and wire should enable to meet any requirement to keep your poultry segregated from wild birds. Even if it makes no sense to you or anyone else, you will be able to stay within the law and perhaps save your birds. |
Something like this should satisfy officialdom. Note the roof. |
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If and when a cull is ordered you may well feel inclined to co-operate for more selfish reasons. There is little doubt that people have and are dying because of close contact with infected poultry. Bird to human transmission of Avian Flu is already a reality in many parts of the world, even though human to human transmission remains a theoretical possibility. Poultry can be dangerous. The writer's own much respected doctor died a few years ago from disease caught from poultry and a Dutch veterinarian died a couple of years ago from bird flu. The irony is that captive birds in enclosed premises are probably even more dangerous than free range. |
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Stay away from crowds - and perhaps air-conditioning. |
However, despite the downside
of being a smallholder with poultry in these difficult days, you do also
have some advantages. If you are self-sufficient, it is far easier for you to keep away from crowded places in the event of an avian flu epidemic. You have food and a food supply, you have premises and probably everything you need to survive for months at a time. You can hunker down and wait the flu or the panic, take your choice, to pass you by. |
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Now, that is not a bad advertisement for self-sufficiency or survivalism! You won't be a burden on the hard pressed authorities. Sure, nothing can keep anyone completely safe from a pandemic, but at least you have choices that will keep you and yours safer. You can find more information on hunkering down on
Self-Sufficiency v Survivalism |
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...avoiding flu - at the original Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. November,2005 |
