The bird flu pandemic, which has been raging on since 2022, is now causing a serious panic that has gotten so bad that not only have we seen piles of dead cattle in California, but now authorities are killing house cats infected with the illness, despite chances they could ultimately survive it. Disturbing, right?
As of this writing a total of over 148 million birds have been killed by human hands after contracting the flu or being in close proximity to animals that have. And that’s just here in the U.S. The devastating impact this is having on herds of cattle is doing significant damage to our food supply.
And now they’re euthanizing house cats in the state of Oregon after they tested positive for the flu.
Two house cats in Oregon were euthanized after testing positive for bird flu linked to their consumption of pet food made from raw chicken, state agriculture officials said on Friday. The virus has infected millions of poultry since the nation’s worst-ever outbreak began in 2022, along with thousands of dairy cattle and almost 70 people since April. The CDC has said the risk to the general public is low.
Both cats that tested positive ate the same brand of pet food, Wild Coast Raw, before becoming ill, Oregon’s agriculture department said. Testing confirmed the presence of bird flu in the cats and food samples, according to the department.
The sick part of all this is that the animals could have recovered from the disease. However, the justification for slaughtering them was to prevent the spread of H5N1. The bottom line, however, is that if this sucker mutates and is able to be passed from human to human, we won’t be able to do much to stop it.
In fact, a woman from Wyoming was recently hospitalized after she tested positive for bird flu.
A woman in Wyoming was hospitalized with H5N1 bird flu, according to health officials who say she was likely infected by handling sickened birds in a backyard flock. According to a statement from Wyoming’s public health department, the woman is “an older adult” and has “other health conditions,” which may have made her more susceptible to the disease. She is being treated in another state. This marks the first human case of bird flu in Wyoming and the 70th human case in the United States since 2024.
Is it time to panic? I don’t think so. We have had very isolated cases in humans and it hasn’t spread from one individual to another, so for now, we’re okay. But if human-to-human contact starts spreading bird flu, the panic will be enormous. ‘
In the mean time, a major concern is our food supply. Both chickens and turkeys have been dropping dead at huge rates. Things are so stark that egg farmers are feeling discouraged, feeling the battle against this flu is “unwinnable.”
Egg farmers are starting to worry that the fight against the avian flu is unwinnable. Producers across the country are bleeding millions of dollars to invest in biosecurity efforts to rebuild their rapidly dying flocks — all while protecting humans from catching the deadly disease, according to a report.
“I call this virus a terrorist. And we are in a battle and losing, at the moment,” Greg Herbruck, the CEO of Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch in Michigan, told the San Antonio Express-News.
As yet another new strain of the avian flu spreads far and wide, major retailers have decided to start rationing eggs. And we all know how the price of eggs has skyrocketed as of late.
While Americans have gotten used to sticker shock over the past couple of years under President Biden as prices for food, gas and other everyday items surged, many shoppers had to look twice when they bought a couple of eggs lately. The average price for a dozen Grade A large eggs climbed to $4.95 last month according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, up from just $2.52 twelve months earlier. According to the latest CPI report, overall egg prices rose by more than 50 percent over the past year.
If you’re the praying type, I suggest asking the Lord to protect us from this disease and prevent person-to-person spread. Otherwise, we’re going to have a potential apocalyptic situation on our hands.
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