This myth has apparently been around since Roman times. Ostriches will lie down and put their necks on the ground to try to blend in with their surroundings to avoid predators. Humans on the other hand are known to stick their heads in the sand as the metaphor goes. Trying to avoid dealing with something serious 鈥� you know, like bird flu.
A bird flu outbreak on an Edgewood, B.C. ostrich farm has become the center of a rekindled debate around science, pseudoscience, government intervention for the greater good and government overreach that affects personal liberty. There is even a convoy of protesters heading to Edgewood in advance of the cull that has been ordered on the farm. Sound familiar?
This is a farm that made money selling ostrich goods and breeding stock. It is not an ostrich sanctuary. Some ostriches had been on the farm for several decades, and would surely be like members of the family. However, when you have 400 ostriches and are in the business of selling ostriches and their products, they aren鈥檛 all family.
When this issue first arose, it was quite easy to find the Universal Ostrich Farm web site. Now their old web site and a search on Universal Ostrich Farm directs you to a site where you are asked to contribute to a fund to help save Erica, Barney, Anna and 14 others (names were not posted for the other 380).
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency reported that their samples revealed a bird flu variant that has been involved in infection of a farm worker in Ohio. Tests commissioned by the farm showed a different culprit, a bacterial infection. Considering we are in a serious outbreak of avian influenza, with millions (perhaps billions) of domestic and wild birds dead as a result 鈥� which of these scenarios is more likely?
Nobody wants to have to kill Barney and Anna and Erica. Nor should we be anything but saddened and horrified about the recently announced deaths of over eight million amazing and unnamed individuals in B.C. factory farms. And those are just the deaths that have been reported.
As I described in an earlier piece about the high cost of eggs, we should also be very concerned about a virus that could have a 50 per cent mortality rate if it makes the jump to humans. Consider how strained the current health care system is 鈥� if we increased the demand for health care by a factor of ten and lost 50 per cent of our doctors, nurses and other health care workers, how would that play out?
How much of a necessity are exotic birds, as either pets or products? Is $33 per pound for ground ostrich an important part of food security in Canada? Canada is a global force in the production of peas, lentils, soybeans. These are cheap, excellent and healthful sources of protein. They do not require any suffering of the Barneys, Ericas or Annas out there. And there are no recorded cases of humans catching bean flu.
It's time to stop sticking our heads in the sand. Critical thinking includes getting outside the current debate, and onto better long-term solutions to pandemic risks.
Alistair Schroff is with Increased ACCESS (formerly Lakes Animal Friendship Society).
