Today we went to a western style factory egg operation in Namakkal. They have three hundred thousand birds in two multi-tiered open sided sheds. The smell is unbelievable. There are four to five birds in each 2’x 2′ mesh cage, some are dead or close to it. They never leave the cage until they die. We were able to shoot in the sheds for about an hour. I walked with some lovely indian women as they collected the eggs. The walking platforms were littered with dead or very sick birds. The scariest part were the wild birds that were below the pens feeding on the bugs eating all the chicken shit. The mix of the caged birds and the wild birds, and the humans working in the sheds is the perfect storm needed for the avian flu to prosper and jump to humans. Scientists Chris has interviewed have some extremely dire predictions about the avian flu, I’ll spare you the details. Here are some of the birds in an image that Aaron sent me.
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