Topic category: Other/General Free Range Chickens and Ducks
Dangerous to Humanity The evidence is now clear: Free-range
chickens and ducks are a major, direct threat to humans
worldwide. Fortunately, we can prevent a massive, global replay
of the Spanish flu epidemic that killed perhaps 25 million
people in 1918–19 simply by putting the world’s poultry into
confinement houses. Despite the protests of the “natural and
organic” movement, letting our chickens outdoors encourages the
bird flu virus to evolve. That could trigger millions of human
deaths if the new H5N1 bird flu virus morphs again into an
airborne form that can be transmitted directly between people.
Half of the recent Asian victims of H5N1 have died. Free-range
chicken enthusiasts claim—loudly and without evidence—that
“factory chicken farms” produced the new bird flu virus. In
Thailand, however, officials found that none of its modern,
indoor chicken flocks had bird flu. In dramatic contrast, 56
percent of the backyard chickens and 47 percent of