Swine Flu effect on zoos?

Simon Hampel

Simon Hampel

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Just wondering what effect people think that the Swine Influenza epidemic may have on zoos - particularly those with exotic pigs ?

I know that Avian Influenza has caused a lot of problems in some zoos with valuable birds needing to be put down, hopefully there's not much transmission of this new strain between animals that will affect zoos.

I'm not sure whether it is possible for human-animal transmission of this virus, so I don't know if visitors to a zoo pose a threat to animals.
 
It's now transmitting from human-to-human. That's why the risk of pandemic is so high. Exotic pig collections should be fine - they may, *potentially*, be at risk of infection from their keepers or even, depending on the type of exhibit, from the public. But they're less of a threat than keeping the zoos open in the first place. That's the real problem - zoos may have to shut their gates as part of wider efforts to reduce the rate of transmission.
 
The media has a history of encouraging people to live in fear!

This is another example.

3000 people died last year in Australia from the "FLU".

Recent scares.

All bees are dieing
Sars
Ozone hole seems to be forgotten!

We buy newsppers and watch the news-- this creates advertising dollar.
24 hour news channels need to be showing something!!
 
Apparently this virus is a combination mutation consisting of an Influenza A, an Avian Flu and two Swine Flu viruses. But it hasn't been found in pigs and they dpn't know where it originated. It might not be transmissable to swine, and if it does it might not have an effect.

:p

Hix
 
I don't think any pigs in captivity in this Country are in danger at the moment.

I did try and phone the NHS Swine Flu hotline but all I got was crackling. I was a bit worried about contracting this disease in the garage this morning. Then I looked again and the sign said Texaco not Mexico.

I think we all have to stop worrying about this and any loss it can do to zoo stock.
 
I think in about 2 weeks the next scare will be some other mutant virus or everyone starting to worry about global warming again, so everything should be fine :p
 
I'm placing bets on a dog flu scare in a couple of years, given the bird and swine ones. :rolleyes:
 
Iraq to kill 3 wild boars at zoo amid flu fears

World Zoo Today
5/1/09 8:55 AM
Sara
Baghdad Zoo swine flu three pigs world health organization
Comments
By KIM GAMEL
Associated Press Writer

The Iraqi government decided Thursday to kill three wild boars at the Baghdad Zoo amid worldwide fears of swine flu, officials said.

No cases of swine flu have been reported in Iraq, and global health officials have said there is no evidence that people have contracted swine flu by eating pork or handling pigs. But Iraqi officials say they don’t want to take any chances.

Iraq has few, if any, pigs used as livestock because its dominant religion, Islam, considers the animals impure. Wild boars roam the countryside in some areas.


In this photo taken Monday, April 27, 2009, people feed a pig at the Baghdad Zoo, Iraq. The Iraqi government has ordered the killing of three wild boars at the Baghdad Zoo amid worldwide fears of swine flu, officials said Thursday.

“The ministry of agriculture made a decision today to kill the three pigs in Baghdad Zoo as a precautionary measure,” Dr. Sabah Jassim Mozan, the head of the ministry’s veterinarian department, told The Associated Press.

No date has been set for their killing, according to Dr. Ihssan Jaafar Ahmed, who heads Iraq’s swine flu committee. Zoo officials could not be reached for comment. Earlier Thursday, the mud-covered boars grazed quietly inside their large pen at the zoo.

Iraq’s decision is among several drastic measures governments have taken to combat swine flu. Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country even though no cases have been reported there.

World health experts say many of these measures may not stop the disease from spreading. The World Health Organization, which has stressed it has not found any association between pigs and the disease in humans, said Thursday it would stop using the term “swine flu.”

The fast-spreading virus has been blamed for more than 160 deaths in Mexico and one in the United States and has been detected in several other countries, including Israel.
 
Not zoo related as much, but today at the Toronto zoo when the keeper was doing a talk at the gorilla exhibit, he said it's only a matter of time until someone brings swine flu over to their wild populations :( As if they're not under enough pressure as it is with habitat loss, poaching, diseases that have spread from humans to them . . .
 
With the H1N1 strain of influenza A (a mix between avian, swine and human flu) the pigs of any kind will not be affected. However because pigs pass alone swing flu they may be able to come in contact with it but it will not the the H1N1 strain. To be honest, swine flu, mad cow, avian flu, sars they were all blown up by media. If people take care of thier hygene everything will be fine.
 
I think the pigs will need some Oinkment. I might have swine flu as I could murder a bacon sandwich.

I just can't believe that some Countries are slaughtering pigs and that any zoo stock is in danger. I am old enough to remember the flu outbreak in 1968 and a previous one when I was very young. Both I remember as quite bad but we are all still here. It's all a storm in a tea cup.
 

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There's hardly any doubt that the global media love such events and fuel paranoia; however, one should not be mislead to downplay the situation.

What the human world is currently confronted with is a till then unknown strain of the Influenza A H1N1 serotype with an increasing global pandemic tendency. It's probably a result of the natural reassortment (= not precisely a "mutation", but a transfer of viral genetic material from one virus to another) of several strains, which have so far been assumed to be either specific for humans, swines or bird (= not the same as the 2006/7 "Bird Flu" H5N1 HPAI strain). And indeed, it appears to be a zoonosis.
This is no laughing matter, and shouldn't be regarded as one, even if the Western World might be less impacted by it than 2nd or 3rd World countries (yet).

Being more careful about "hygiene" is a lovely thought, but won't help much. A factual, biosafety-orientated and controlled worldwide improvement of the living and health conditions of agricultural animals and its production network (especially of the humans involved) is the way to go.

As for the rest of the world, my advice would be: keep cool and rational, but don't underestimate such events. The reaction of Iraq is exaggerated, and probably most zoos won't be impacted-except that they will be faced with more red tape in the future, as a consequence of the rise of social awareness...
 
I went to Twycross yesterday and noticed that some, but not all, of the keepers were wearing blue surgical-type facemasks ...... I wondered if this was a reaction to the flu scare ?

In particular, the keepers cleaning the indoor orang area at the end of the day were wearing them.
 
Many facilites use surgical masks when working primates, especially apes due to disease transfer. No keeper wants to be a vector to their animals.
 
okapikpr said:
Many facilites use surgical masks when working primates, especially apes due to disease transfer. No keeper wants to be a vector to their animals.
Click to expand...

This is true; I hear even with masks, keepers aren't allowed to work with the primates if they have the flu in some places.
 
Some facilities insist on TB testing before you work with primates.

:p

Hix
 
I understand that the transference of disease between human and animal is probably most likely between human and ape, but I'd personally never seen keepers in masks before Saturday .......
 
I know at Edinburgh Zoo the paid staff are being vaccinated at great expense and volunteers are also being advised that if they are feeling at all ill, not to come in. Surely basic common sense anyway. As mentioned elsewhere, the media is causing mass hysteria. To quote a column in my local newspaper is it a case of "pandemic by media"?

On a lighter note, if it's a mix of swine and avian flu, should you avoid singing Pink Floyd songs near Battersea power station in London?
 
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