Bird flu exercise causes panic: Knowledge Driven Revolution

Related - Food agency's avian influenza drill frightens Manitoba residents for real

Related - Canadian Bird Flu Pandemic Looming ?

Chicken Little, settle down -- the sky isn't falling.

Reports of moon men in the Steinbach area and strange sightings in the skies sparked a flood of calls to the Sun and police stations yesterday morning.

Coupled with reports of a military training exercise taking place in the area, many area residents were confused and worried about what was happening. As it turned out, the space-suit styled gear was related to a mock drill of a bird flu outbreak at a Landmark-area farm being hosted by various government agencies --not the end of the world as we know it.

"You mix everything together and you get a lot of rumour and speculation," said local UFO expert Chris Rutkowski, who was also kept busy with calls from curious citizens.

While officials with the Department of National Defence insisted there were no military exercises taking place in the area yesterday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the Manitoba Egg Producers and Manitoba Agriculture were simulating their procedures for handling an avian influenza outbreak.

Using carbon dioxide, about 34,000 chickens were euthanized in the mock outbreak, said the CFIA's Dr. Sandra Stephens.

BIRDS OFFERED UP

"We're doing a total mock-up of that situation, right from how we would take them out of the barn to how we would dispose of them," she said.

Coming to the end of their production lives of about a year, the birds were offered up by Unger Poultry, a producer near Landmark, roughly 20 km southeast of Winnipeg.

Workers wearing white coveralls, bright green rubber gloves and full masks could be seen outside massive metal barns, which were cordoned off with yellow ribbon often seen at crime scenes. Stephens said roughly 60 people from the various agencies were taking part in the event.

A barn housing thousands of chickens was flooded with carbon dioxide. The chickens' carcasses were put into a straw compost not unlike the garden-variety compost, though much larger, Stephens said.

The federal agencies tried to keep yesterday's bird flu exercise under wraps. An official with the CFIA said it was to protect the privacy of the chicken producer.

Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl, in Winnipeg yesterday, defended the department's decision to keep the drill a secret.

"If you say there's going to be a surprise exercise tomorrow, that doesn't work. There is an element of surprise to these things, that's why they're called exercises. You want to see how people react," he said.

"I'm going to make a blanket statement -- if you see somebody in a spacesuit, don't worry."

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HOME Canadians Should Pay NOT to be Poisoned: NDP V for Vendetta - R for Reality Canadian Bird Flu Pandemic Looming ? Shill of the Week: Stephan Harper Aspartame: The Sweetest Killer Chicken Little Terrorist of the Week: Creating Fake Terrorists Shill of the Week: Paul Martin The Number 1 Reason YOU became a Slave	Bird flu exercise causes panic TAMARA KING - Winnipeg Sun November 06, 2006 Related - Food agency's avian influenza drill frightens Manitoba residents for real Related - Canadian Bird Flu Pandemic Looming ? Chicken Little, settle down -- the sky isn't falling. Reports of moon men in the Steinbach area and strange sightings in the skies sparked a flood of calls to the Sun and police stations yesterday morning. Coupled with reports of a military training exercise taking place in the area, many area residents were confused and worried about what was happening. As it turned out, the space-suit styled gear was related to a mock drill of a bird flu outbreak at a Landmark-area farm being hosted by various government agencies --not the end of the world as we know it. "You mix everything together and you get a lot of rumour and speculation," said local UFO expert Chris Rutkowski, who was also kept busy with calls from curious citizens. While officials with the Department of National Defence insisted there were no military exercises taking place in the area yesterday, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), the Manitoba Egg Producers and Manitoba Agriculture were simulating their procedures for handling an avian influenza outbreak. Using carbon dioxide, about 34,000 chickens were euthanized in the mock outbreak, said the CFIA's Dr. Sandra Stephens. BIRDS OFFERED UP "We're doing a total mock-up of that situation, right from how we would take them out of the barn to how we would dispose of them," she said. Coming to the end of their production lives of about a year, the birds were offered up by Unger Poultry, a producer near Landmark, roughly 20 km southeast of Winnipeg. Workers wearing white coveralls, bright green rubber gloves and full masks could be seen outside massive metal barns, which were cordoned off with yellow ribbon often seen at crime scenes. Stephens said roughly 60 people from the various agencies were taking part in the event. A barn housing thousands of chickens was flooded with carbon dioxide. The chickens' carcasses were put into a straw compost not unlike the garden-variety compost, though much larger, Stephens said. The federal agencies tried to keep yesterday's bird flu exercise under wraps. An official with the CFIA said it was to protect the privacy of the chicken producer. Federal Agriculture Minister Chuck Strahl, in Winnipeg yesterday, defended the department's decision to keep the drill a secret. "If you say there's going to be a surprise exercise tomorrow, that doesn't work. There is an element of surprise to these things, that's why they're called exercises. You want to see how people react," he said. "I'm going to make a blanket statement -- if you see somebody in a spacesuit, don't worry." Read the full article here Broken Link? If the link to the original article is broken or has been altered you can view the article by clicking here. About KDR \| \| Home \| \| Weekly Features Archive	Weekly Features Archive
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