Bird Flu - Germany Closing Barn Door After Horse is Gone

Slaughtering all poultry after H5N1 - avian flu - is always presented as a solution to problem... until the next outbreak. Different thinking is needed than closing the door after the problem has already gotten out.

clipped from www.iht.com DRESDEN, Germany: A health official says 1,400 birds have been slaughtered at a poultry farm in eastern Germany after a duck tested positive for the H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus. Saxony state health ministry spokesman Ralph Schreiber said Friday that the farm's entire stock of ducks, geese, turkeys and chickens was slaughtered overnight. The farm near Goerlitz on the Polish border has been sealed off to prevent the spread of the virus. Birds at other poultry farms in the region are being checked.