Divisions deep over feds’ back-up plan to kill birds if avian flu returns

If avian flu returns to Minnesota, there’s no doubt infected poultry flocks would have to be killed. But new federal rules detailing how the birds should be killed has ignited a controversy. Critics say the U.S. Department of Agriculture is supporting an inhumane, slow killing procedure – shutting down barn ventilators and turning up the heat so the animals die of heat stress. Veterinary officials in Minnesota, which was rocked this year by the bird flu, don’t like it either, but they concede that it’s now an “acceptable form of mass depopulation.” Read More