Welfare standards for poultry birds must be raised higher
While several states of India roil under the latest outbreak of Avian Influenza, the strategy of mass culling of poultry birds, to contain the spread, is a knee-jerk reaction adopted by health authorities. This is not the first bird flu outbreak in India. Repeated outbreaks have been occurring since 2006 – all met with the same response: killing millions of birds to “contain” the disease.
The government has refused to understand why India has become the home of Avian Influenza. Since there is no understanding, they refuse to change the policies that are causing this epidemic again and again. This is a disaster of our own making. Poultry farm workers, and billions of poultry birds, are disproportionately affected and are the first victims of this disaster. Collateral damage includes health workers who act as first responders. And God knows how many people who eat the dead chickens, in the belief that they cannot get the disease.