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Recent U.S. Avian Influenza Outbreak is a Concern For Public Health

A contagious and deadly form of avian influenza has spread across multiple states in recent weeks. The highly infectious virus has killed many farmed poultry and wild birds.

Since early January, the virus began killing chickens in northeast Canada, and it has made its way through factory farms and migrating ducks, geese, and swans from Florida to Maine. The virus has also been making its way through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, with 300 outbreaks in 19 European countries in the last few weeks. In Israel, thousands of cranes have been killed at a nature reserve.

It has also made thousands of turkeys sick in Kentucky and Indiana, which began a mass slaughter of the birds and import bans. Officials were shocked at how efficiently and quickly this virus is killing the animals, saying the animals are dying within hours of the initial infection. In Indiana, according to NY Times, the state officials have already euthanized more than 100,000 birds.

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Trending Video

1,100 Pigs Just Got Delivered

Video: 1,100 Pigs Just Got Delivered



1,100 pigs showed up today, and every empty pen in this barn is full by dark. The semi backs in, the chute drops, and it's all hands sorting pigs down the aisles until the whole barn is wall to wall. And that's only half the day. The other delivery is a brand new CAT 275 skid steer, and Tork gets to drive it off the flatbed first. New pigs, new iron, and a barn that goes from empty and washed to full and loud in one afternoon. This is what a big day on a pig farm looks like.