"Migratory birds, scapegoats?" [French news article] A "machine translation":
Quote:
The role of the migratory birds would be completely "secondary" in the propagation of virus H5N1 of the influenza aviaire. It is at least in this direction that voices authorized in the ornithological medium rise. Principal argument: the migratory roads of the birds really do not stick with the countries or the zones touched by epizooty in the world. For Olivier Dehorter, ornithologist with the national Natural history museum of natural history, "there are great inconsistencies, leaving think that the virus does not travel inevitably with the migrating ones". Certain countries flown over by the migrating ones were not touched by epizooty. "the birds which left at the beginning of the winter Asia of north, passed to India and to Pakistan, but there was very little case of contamination in these two countries, explains Frederic Lamouroux, ornithologist with the park of the bridge of Gau, in the Camargue. Israel, toll of migrating towards the East Africa, was saved, like Australia, place of privileged wintering. Especially, the migratory increase of Africa towards Europe, by the axis Senegal-Mauritania-Morocco-Spain-Portugal, is not concerned. If the migrating ones were the vector of the H5N1, these countries should have been infested and to know a true hecatomb ". Until now, in Africa, the influenza aviaire was detected in Nigeria, and since yesterday, in close Niger. But, the ornithologists notice, it was to it four long months after the arrival of the birds on their places of wintering, and the virus struck domestic poultry breedings, located far from the wetlands sought by the migrating ones. "Since the beginning of epizooty, approximately 150 million domestic birds died in the world counters only 200 wild birds, and on the 2 000 declared hearths of contamination, a score has migrating implied in the perimeter", points out Pascal Orabi, of the League of protection of birds (LPO). Then, which is the culprit? For these specialists, it would be rather to seek side poultry world trade, legal or not.