Do wild birds or factory-farmed poultry provide the main reservoir of the H5NI virus?
Wild birds are usually identified as the main vehicle for spreading the disease to domestic poultry, and ultimately to humans. Some scientists, however, believe that modern farming practices, rather than migratory birds, account for the rapid and virtually global spread of AI. Dr Leon Bennun, Director of Science, Policy and Information for BirdLife International, wrote: ‘Some of the agencies attempting to monitor and control avian flu, such as the FAO (the UN Food and Agriculture Organization), seem to have been reluctant to draw attention to the role of intensive agriculture, because of the impact on national economies and on access to cheap sources of protein. For this and other reasons, the role of migratory wild birds in the transmission of the disease has been exaggerated, and further sensationalised in the press. In some countries there has been a backlash against bird conservation, leading to calls for the culling of whole populations, draining of wetlands and destruction of nes
