Hello Again,
Long time no write... Whenever the time gap between posting and the other goes longer i get sadder .
I wanted this to be of more frequency, but what to do, you just don't always get what you want now, do you?
Today we are going to talk about birds. Seeing the title, which is not by any means relevent to Alfred Hitchcook's famous classic movie The Birds, but rather relevent to the Bird Flu (Avian Flu) issue that is causing more and more concern in Iraq and elsewhere.
Of course, the situation is extremely serious, not only serious but very dangerous especially here in Iraq, where everything is either unorganized, or needs great efforts to organize, in the midst of all the challanges facing the people here.
For example, when the first case appeared in Turkey, a group of people, that nobody knows from where they are, or who sent them, reportedly and allegedly started touring areas of Baghdad claiming to give Anti-Flu vaccines, which were in fact, fatal or dangerous materials. Ministry of Health said that there are no groups from them whatsoever.
Then, with the unstable situation facing the nation, especially in areas around Samarra (110 KM = 70 miles north of Baghdad), it wasn't enough for the people there to live the common daily difficulties of Iraqi life; but in addition to all that, migrant birds, who usually land in the huge Thirthar Lake west of Samarra started falling dead from the sky last week, on peoples' homes and farms. According to people living there who spoke to AFP, birds looked extremely skinny, and looked as if they had runny noses.
Chickens are being killed everywhere, in the north, in the center and south of Iraq. Cases have been heard of in the north, and south. Wherever there are lakes, where migrant birds may touch down, the infection is probably to spread.
The only positive thing to this is that prices of eggs, and even imported chicken has gone down in the local market, a temptation for those who'd take the risk, and many would.
I have seen a chicken about a month ago, so i took a photo of her with my mobile, because who knows how much time would pass before one would see a live chicken again, or would the poor creatures go to the brink of extinction... A bad idea many of us would hate to think of.
I honestly pray that things go well with this matter here and elsewhere. Everybody in the house say:Amen!
