INDIAN ANIMAL ORGANISATIONS BLAME BIRD FLU EPIDEMIC ON PREVAILING POULTRY REARING PRACTICES
By Chetana Mirle

According to the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations (FIAPO), an umbrella group of organisations working to improve the conditions of animals in India and, the emergence of highly pathogenic (disease-causing) strains of bird flu is primarily due to the intensive confinement of birds on factory farms, rather than natural factors.

Industrial poultry production practices increasingly prevalent throughout India not only impair the welfare of birds, but also foster conditions ripe for disease. Broiler chickens, those raised for meat, have been selectively bred to reach market weight in a fraction of the time these animals would grow naturally. Such rapid growth has resulted in, among other serious disorders, the birds suffering from weakened immune function and skeletal and metabolic disorders. Similarly, egg-laying hens have been genetically manipulated for unnaturally high rates of lay. Consequently, laying hens can endure abnormalities of the reproductive tract and metabolic disorders such as osteoporosis and accompanying bone weakness. Like chickens raised for meat, those laying eggs suffer weakened immune systems, making them more susceptible to disease, particularly when reared in overcrowded, poorly ventilated intensive confinement inherent to industrial poultry production. Indeed, high stocking density, stress, unhygienic conditions, and inbreeding practices are known to be responsible for the emergence of new highly pathogenic strains.

Since 2006, when Indian health officials first confirmed the bird flu outbreak in Nandurbar district, India has seen repeated outbreaks. Earlier this year, more than 3.9 million birds were culled. At that time, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) warned that bird flu could strike India again. Less than two years later, in March 2008, another outbreak has been reported, in West Bengal where 13 districts have been affected.

Bird flu infection in humans who handle the infected birds is exceedingly rare, but experts fear that the virus may mutate into a form that is efficiently transmissible from human to human, thereby triggering a human pandemic expected to kill millions around the globe.

The FIAPO calls upon the government to impose restrictions on the stocking density of chickens confined on factory farms, prohibit the use of cages and inhumane rearing practices, initiate and encourage free range production abolish the practice of breeding for growth or unnatural egg production at the expense of immunity and animal welfare; and implement the laws pertaining to prevention of cruelty to animals in poultry farming. These measures could protect against the further emergence of highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza. The FIAPO also encourages the public to reduce and replace dietary poultry products with plant-based proteins.