Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Oct 12, 2024 23:41:47 GMT
Photos of dead cattle show bird flu is overwhelming Tulare County. How did the virus get in? - Published Oct 11, 2024
By Kerry Klein
FRESNO, Calif. – Cows in the Central Valley are dying so quickly from bird flu that they are overwhelming standard protocols meant to dispose of carcasses, according to a dairy industry representative.
On Thursday, KVPR obtained photos taken this week of dead cattle and calves that were discarded in the open air near a road at the edge of a dairy farm near the Tulare County community of Tipton.
Crystal Heath, a veterinarian and animal welfare advocate, provided the images. She acknowledged she didn’t know for certain that the cattle had died of bird flu, but questioned why animals would be piled in this way with “no signage warning of the biosecurity hazard.”
On Friday, Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairies, an industry group, acknowledged to KVPR that these photos were authentic. She also acknowledged that laying carcasses out in the open and at the periphery of a farm is not standard practice, but that the situation demonstrates the severity of the outbreak.
Without avian influenza, “we would never have had that type of deadpile like that in a public area – and there just wouldn't be that many dead cows,” Raudabaugh said.
She said the proximity of the cows to the street allows rendering trucks to access them more easily without endangering dairy workers or bringing more vehicle traffic onto a farm already dealing with an outbreak.
The dairy operators were “following strict quarantine procedures and placing them away from the healthy cattle and away from the employees, which is why they were on the side of the road like that – so the rendering truck could access them quickly and easily,” she said.
Cattle infected with bird flu cannot be sent to slaughter, but instead must be sent to a rendering plant where they will be incinerated. The photos shared with KVPR showed the cows crawling with flies, and even a baby calf among the dead.
While Raudabaugh did not have an estimate for how many cattle have died of the virus in California, she did say that dairies with outbreaks are so far reporting a 10-20% drop in milk production – due not only to cattle deaths, but also a diminished milk supply for many of those that survive.
Six human cases of bird flu are now confirmed in Central California, and one other is under investigation. Health officials say symptoms among those infected have been relatively mild.
Although health officials say there’s been no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, Stanford University infectious disease expert Abraar Karan warned that could change if the virus gets the opportunity to exchange genetic information with other strains.
“We know with influenza viruses there’s a risk of what’s called viral reassortment, which is essentially when a host gets infected with multiple different strains at once,” Karan previously told The California Newsroom. “It’s hard to predict what changes could occur.”
Did California bird flu strain come from Idaho?
Although state officials have not shared details about exactly where and how the first cases arrived in California, the Department of Food and Agriculture did acknowledge to KVPR it identified the strain that has been detected in the state.
“Genome sequencing on the strain of the virus in California cattle is most similar to the strain found in cattle in the state of Idaho,” wrote CDFA public affairs director Steve Lyle in a statement.
Dairy farmers in the area say they may know why: interstate movement of cattle from Tulare County to Idaho and back earlier this summer.
According to Joey Airoso, a dairy farmer near Pixley, the understanding within the dairy community is that a seller drove cattle to Idaho for a sale, but the buyer rejected some of them. Instead of finding another buyer for those remaining cattle, which is common practice, Airoso said the seller hauled them back across state lines and into Tulare County.
“It was really reckless, because you had the potential to bring the virus back into the number-one dairy county in the United States,” he said.
Airoso said the community found out about the transaction in August – after the virus had already been confirmed in a few dozen herds in Idaho, and just weeks before the Tulare County Fair. Airoso believes the seller did test the cattle for avian influenza before leaving for Idaho – which became a requirement for interstate travel earlier this year – but it’s unclear whether the animals were tested again before returning.
"It's very disappointing that people used a lack of judgment to move animals back and forth from a contaminated area already,” he said. It “had a huge negative impact on a lot of families already and there's a lot of upset people out there about how this thing got here.”
Tricia Stever Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, said she had heard the same theory.
“I will certainly confirm that that is the same information I have heard,” she said. “I don't have any direct knowledge of the transmission pathway, but that is a common and well-known story that I believe is probably accurate.”
Raudabaugh, from Western United Dairies, would not reveal details about the arrival of the virus in California cattle, but she acknowledged it was likely transmitted through a “breach of security.”
“It has to be,” she said. “This is a dairy strain…The only way for it to spread is through dairies. And so we know with certainty that this strain is not being spread by wild birds.”
The state’s investigation into the source of the outbreak is ongoing.
By Kerry Klein
FRESNO, Calif. – Cows in the Central Valley are dying so quickly from bird flu that they are overwhelming standard protocols meant to dispose of carcasses, according to a dairy industry representative.
On Thursday, KVPR obtained photos taken this week of dead cattle and calves that were discarded in the open air near a road at the edge of a dairy farm near the Tulare County community of Tipton.
Crystal Heath, a veterinarian and animal welfare advocate, provided the images. She acknowledged she didn’t know for certain that the cattle had died of bird flu, but questioned why animals would be piled in this way with “no signage warning of the biosecurity hazard.”
On Friday, Anja Raudabaugh, CEO of Western United Dairies, an industry group, acknowledged to KVPR that these photos were authentic. She also acknowledged that laying carcasses out in the open and at the periphery of a farm is not standard practice, but that the situation demonstrates the severity of the outbreak.
Without avian influenza, “we would never have had that type of deadpile like that in a public area – and there just wouldn't be that many dead cows,” Raudabaugh said.
She said the proximity of the cows to the street allows rendering trucks to access them more easily without endangering dairy workers or bringing more vehicle traffic onto a farm already dealing with an outbreak.
The dairy operators were “following strict quarantine procedures and placing them away from the healthy cattle and away from the employees, which is why they were on the side of the road like that – so the rendering truck could access them quickly and easily,” she said.
Cattle infected with bird flu cannot be sent to slaughter, but instead must be sent to a rendering plant where they will be incinerated. The photos shared with KVPR showed the cows crawling with flies, and even a baby calf among the dead.
While Raudabaugh did not have an estimate for how many cattle have died of the virus in California, she did say that dairies with outbreaks are so far reporting a 10-20% drop in milk production – due not only to cattle deaths, but also a diminished milk supply for many of those that survive.
Six human cases of bird flu are now confirmed in Central California, and one other is under investigation. Health officials say symptoms among those infected have been relatively mild.
Although health officials say there’s been no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, Stanford University infectious disease expert Abraar Karan warned that could change if the virus gets the opportunity to exchange genetic information with other strains.
“We know with influenza viruses there’s a risk of what’s called viral reassortment, which is essentially when a host gets infected with multiple different strains at once,” Karan previously told The California Newsroom. “It’s hard to predict what changes could occur.”
Did California bird flu strain come from Idaho?
Although state officials have not shared details about exactly where and how the first cases arrived in California, the Department of Food and Agriculture did acknowledge to KVPR it identified the strain that has been detected in the state.
“Genome sequencing on the strain of the virus in California cattle is most similar to the strain found in cattle in the state of Idaho,” wrote CDFA public affairs director Steve Lyle in a statement.
Dairy farmers in the area say they may know why: interstate movement of cattle from Tulare County to Idaho and back earlier this summer.
According to Joey Airoso, a dairy farmer near Pixley, the understanding within the dairy community is that a seller drove cattle to Idaho for a sale, but the buyer rejected some of them. Instead of finding another buyer for those remaining cattle, which is common practice, Airoso said the seller hauled them back across state lines and into Tulare County.
“It was really reckless, because you had the potential to bring the virus back into the number-one dairy county in the United States,” he said.
Airoso said the community found out about the transaction in August – after the virus had already been confirmed in a few dozen herds in Idaho, and just weeks before the Tulare County Fair. Airoso believes the seller did test the cattle for avian influenza before leaving for Idaho – which became a requirement for interstate travel earlier this year – but it’s unclear whether the animals were tested again before returning.
"It's very disappointing that people used a lack of judgment to move animals back and forth from a contaminated area already,” he said. It “had a huge negative impact on a lot of families already and there's a lot of upset people out there about how this thing got here.”
Tricia Stever Blattler, executive director of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, said she had heard the same theory.
“I will certainly confirm that that is the same information I have heard,” she said. “I don't have any direct knowledge of the transmission pathway, but that is a common and well-known story that I believe is probably accurate.”
Raudabaugh, from Western United Dairies, would not reveal details about the arrival of the virus in California cattle, but she acknowledged it was likely transmitted through a “breach of security.”
“It has to be,” she said. “This is a dairy strain…The only way for it to spread is through dairies. And so we know with certainty that this strain is not being spread by wild birds.”
The state’s investigation into the source of the outbreak is ongoing.