There are seven generations of corwins in the Aquebogue cemetery, Long Island, city. Their graves have been neglecting the farm that has been part of the family since the 1640s. The tombstones of certain family members are decorated with ducks. “I will say that it was the idea of my grandfather because he did it first,” said Doug Corwin.
It was Corwin’s great grandfather that started raising ducks in 1908 when Long Island was famous for his duck farms. Now Crescent Duck Farm is the only one to stay. He produced a million ducks a year, up to two weeks ago when the bird flu closed the farm. Corwin said: “I saw a herd one day that was great, and the next day was lethargic, I did not eat. It looked like something I had never seen before.”
Dozens of local and local agricultural workers, dressed in organic costumes, helped euthanasia throughout the herd – 100,000 ducks. Whether ducks or chickens, since the current tension of the bird flu, H5N1, reached the United States in 2022, more than 148 million birds were ordered Euthanized.
“This is an amazing issue, there is no doubt,” said Jodie Guest, professor of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health from Emory University in Atlanta. “But it is, and has always been a policy between the administrations, with the USDA, that this is how they manage infections like this one in poultry. And as we have seen the flip of birds Move (through) the species, it becomes even more important to try to contain this infection in the herds in which it is, so that we do not continue to see the propagation.
Except that is exactly what happened. H5N1, said the guest, was in the 50 states by the end of 2023, transmitted by wild birds through their excrement and their saliva. “Thus, in 2024, we saw the flu of birds jump from our poultry and wild birds, to mammals, to cows. And it was a very surprising change,” she said.
Until 2024, there was only one human case in the United States in a few months, the number went to 67, with a death. Most of these cases were dairy operations and poultry farms. They had light symptoms.
The guest said: “So far, we have not seen human transmission to human, and this should happen to be on the verge of an epidemic or a pandemic.” However, she added that she is not afraid of that: “I am very convinced that human risk is still very, very low.”
But the propagation of H5N1 is not contained … and look at what the slaughter has already done at the price and the availability of eggs.
The question has become politicized. Last week, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said: “Biden administration and the agriculture department led the mass murder of more than 100 million chickens, which led to A lack of chicken supply in this country, therefore a lack of egg supply, which leads to a shortage.
Doug Corwin says: “A vaccination program is the only thing that will get us out.”
The proposal is controversial: allow poultry breeders to vaccinate their birds against H5N1, which is theoretically feasible but currently prohibited, because it would paralyze American poultry exports to the many countries that prohibit vaccinated birds. “The disease becomes much greater than the export situation, because the disease becomes so uncontrollable at the moment,” said Corwin.
Corwin cannot decide which one is worse: losing 100,000 ducks or having to fire 48 people.
I said, “Do you seem ambivalent to know if you even want to try again?”
“Martha, think about what I have experienced in the past two weeks,” said Corwin. “It is devastating, completely devastating. It reminds me of losing both parents, suddenly … This sorrow. It is just that feeling that you have lost something that is part of you.”
For more information:
Crescent Duck Farm, Aquebogue, Nyjodie Guest, professor of epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
History produced by David Rothman. Publisher: Emanuele Secci.
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