(OPINION) Are we are on the verge of the worst public health crisis that any of us have ever witnessed? I just read a report from the Los Angeles Times that chilled me to the core.
I knew that H5N1 avian flu was infecting dairy cows all over the nation, but I had no idea that things had gotten so bad. California produces more dairy than any other state, and so prices for milk, cheese, and other dairy products will inevitably go up as herd after herd gets devastated by this insidious disease.
More importantly, if H5N1 avian flu starts spreading among humans on a widespread basis, the panic that we will see will be off the charts.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were told that even though millions of birds were dying, H5N1 avian flu would not start spreading widely among mammals.
But now it is. At this moment, dead cows are “stacked along roadsides rotting in the heat” in some areas of California… A dystopian scene is emerging in California as dairy farmers battle a ruthless disease.
Dead cows and calves stacked along roadsides rotting in the heat surrounded by crows, vultures and thick swarms of black flies. After wiping out tens of millions of birds worldwide, the H5N1 avian flu is tearing through dairy farms in the US.
I know that everyone wants to talk about the presidential election right now, but this is important. Cows are dropping dead in large numbers, and there is no end to this crisis in sight.
According to the Los Angeles Times, things are particularly bad in Tulare County… There’s a sickness hovering over Tulare County‘s dairy industry.
On a recent 98-degree afternoon, dead cows and calves were piled up along the roadside. Thick swarms of black flies hummed and knocked against the windows of an idling car, while crows and vultures waited nearby — eyeballing the taut and bloated carcasses roasting in the October heat.
So far, 124 dairy herds have been hit in the state of California alone. The San Joaquin Valley seems to be the current epicenter of this crisis. According to one industry insider, his drivers “picked up 20 to 30 animals at one farm in one day”…
A similar observation was made by Jimmy Andreoli II, spokesman for Baker Commodities, a rendering company with facilities in Southern California. He said his workers are picking up a surge of dead cows throughout the San Joaquin Valley.
“There’s definitely been an increased number of fallen animals lately, and some of that has got to be attributed to the long, hot summer we’ve had. And some of it, you know, certainly is attributed to the H5N1 virus,” he said, noting that one of his drivers picked up 20 to 30 animals at one farm in one day.
Andreoli said that at some farms the cows are intentionally being left on the roadside to reduce contamination — preventing further inter-farm spread. At others, the animals are left on-site — but away from live animals and people. (READ MORE)
