View allAll Photos Tagged biosecurity
A honey bee hard at work collecting nectar on a borage bloom.
Taken at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens.
Australia was the only continent free of the varroa mites, which are the biggest threat to bees worldwide.
However the deadly Varroa mites were spotted in June 2022 at a port near Sydney and has since been spotted in hives 100km away.
The pests - which are about the size of a sesame seed - weaken and kill colonies by feasting on them and transmitting viruses.
Authorities have introduced several biosecurity measures to limit the outbreak, after the mites were detected at seven sites across New South Wales.
Any hives within 10km of infested locations - about 400 so far - will also be destroyed, while colonies within 25km will be inspected and monitored.
A "bee lockdown", banning movement of bees across the state, is also being enforced.
About a third of Australia's food production relies on bee pollination, including almonds, apples and avocadoes.
Luckily, the spread was contained. But bee keepers are still vigilant.
Many thanks for your visit comments, invites and faves...it is always appreciated.
Peaceful Saturday
5 March 2020 - After the slaughter of over 100,000 beautiful and supposedly protected wild animals in 43 areas of the country, it was announced today that the cull is to be "phased out over the next few years" in favour of vaccination.
Independent studies have shown that "frequent trading of cattle and poor biosecurity on farms severely hamper efforts to tackle bovine TB" and in one cull area analysed, bovine TB actually increased. Vaccination is cheaper and more effective. So the question is, why are they not ending this bonkers policy immediately?
The bumble bee is a member of the genus Bombas. This group are found primarily in higher altitudes or latitudes in the northern hemisphere, but also in South America.
However, in Australia, this group is seen as less than humble by some. The European bumble bee (Bombus terrestris) was introduced to Tasmania in 1992. While some sources believe this was an accident, others believe the bees were introduced deliberately.
It is highly likely that one or a few bumblebee queens had made it to Tasmania by boat from New Zealand, where they persist in successful, long-term, feral populations. The Battery Point bees could have arrived as either accidental stowaways, or as a deliberate and illegal introduction by an unknown offender?
Since that time, the species have spread across the island, with a study in 2006 showing the species had spread from the sea to the island’s highest peak, Mount Ossa. This raises the debate, what would happen if the European bumble bee spread to the rest of Australia?
The introduced Tasmanian bumble bee has raised strong debate around issues of biosecurity and the benefits of an exotic species helping out horticulturalists with the pollination of local crops.
During our road trip of Iceland we were fortunate enough to come across this group of Icelandic horses that were hanging around at the edge of a field. They were very friendly and obviously use to human contact. Here are just a few images of these beautiful creatures.
The Icelandic horse is a breed like no other, with a history that is deeply intertwined with the island nation itself. Brought to Iceland by Norse settlers in the 9th and 10th centuries, these horses have remained a pure breed for over a thousand years.
Here are 5 facinating facts about these horses.
1. Pure Breed Lineage: As mentioned, Icelandic horses are direct descendants of the horses brought by the Norse settlers, making them one of the purest horse breeds in the world. This uninterrupted lineage has preserved their unique traits and robust health.
2. Lifetime Exile: Due to strict biosecurity measures, any Icelandic horse that leaves Iceland is barred from returning. This policy is in place to protect the breed from foreign diseases and maintain the health and purity of the Icelandic stock.
3. Five Gaits: While most horse breeds have three or four gaits (walk, trot, canter/gallop), Icelandic horses are renowned for their five gaits. In addition to the typical walk, trot, and canter/gallop, they can perform the tölt and the skeið (pace). The tölt is a smooth, four-beat gait that is incredibly comfortable for the rider, while the skeið is a fast, two-beat gait used for racing.
4. Longevity: Icelandic horses are known for their longevity and can live well into their late 20s or even 30s. Some individuals have been known to continue riding well into their 20s, which is a testament to their hardiness and excellent care standards in Iceland.
5. Temperament: Icelandic horses are famous for their friendly and curious nature. They are generally easy to handle and have a calm demeanor, making them excellent companions for riders of all levels. Their intelligence and willingness to please further enhance their appeal.
Thank you for looking.
The rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) is an Unwanted Organism under the Biosecurity Act 1993, with an exemption for bird fanciers to hold and sell birds. Birds may still be kept as pets in secure aviaries and cages but it is illegal to release a rainbow lorikeet into the wild. People releasing them into the wild may face heavy penalties.
Significant numbers of captive–reared birds were illegally and deliberately released in the Auckland area in the 1990s and had started breeding in the wild. By 1999 a feral population of 150–200 birds had established in the Auckland region, proving that they can survive and adapt to the New Zealand environment.
Evidence shows that rainbow lorikeets compete with native birds by dominating their food sources and nesting sites. They are capable of dislodging much larger birds than themselves. They may also carry avian diseases which can threaten the health of native bird species.
© Dominic Scott 2023
1) the construction, on the basis of a possible risk, of a fictitious scenario in which data are presented in such a way as to promote behaviors that allow for governing an extreme situation;
2) the adoption of the logic of the worst as a regime of political rationality;
3) the total organization of the body of citizens in a way that strengthens maximum adherence to institutions of government, producing a sort of superlative good citizenship in which imposed obligations are presented as evidence of altruism and the citizen no longer has a right to health (health safety) but becomes juridically obliged to health (biosecurity).
[G.A]
An orange spider wasp (Cryptocheilus bicolor) dragging a huntsman.
"On finding the spider, which may be as large as a huntsman or funnel-web and twice as heavy as itself, the wasp stings and paralyses it, and then drags or flies it back to the burrow. She then lays an egg on the spider's body, and seals it in a chamber or cell at the end of the burrow. The larva hatches and feeds on the body of the spider before pupating in a thin silky cocoon in the cell."
Source:
australian.museum/.../animals/insects/spider-wasps/
www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/biosecurity/plant/bees-and-wasps/spide...
Foxes are ubiquitous both in urban areas and these urban parks. Anyone who keeps backyard chickens know they need to be kept in hen houses with wire floors as the foxes dig underneath. This is the first time i have seen a fox in broad daylight wandering across to the well trodden path around Lake Lysterfield. As you can see the summer weather has made the grass tinder dry but his red coat stands out. I have noticed quite a few Rabbits around too.
I am sick of the heat so hopefully the break will come later today with a cool change and perhaps another shower. 24 degrees C overnight.
agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/pest-animals/establish...
These busy leafhoppers were on the leaves of our Eucalyptus wandoo tree in our back yard.
Photo: Jean
ID: Fulgoromo Fulgoromo thanks.
Biosecurity Collections, Orange Orange Agricultural Institute
2023
The Diosma bushes are in full flower and attracting the bees. So lovely to see them and hope there is enough in the countryside given the Varroa mite outbreak in NSW.
Have you noticed that Australia has the Varroa mite outbreak of Bees, a possible biosecurity threat of Foot and Mouth Disease in Bali with fears of spillover to our large island, plus other diseases such as Ross River Fever, Hendra Virus and others with animal vectors rising in numbers? The cost of animal biosecurity is rising as we deforest and push these vectors and viruses closer to ourselves and our animal feed species.
Some of these disease threats can be reduced in severity and possibility by some simple measures, including maintaining and increasing biodiversity. www.agriculture.gov.au/about/news
Cicadellidae (leafhoppers) pair copulating on Eucalyptus wandoo tree.
ID: Fulgoromo Fulgoromo thanks.
Biosecurity Collections, Orange Orange Agricultural Institute
2023
A Giant Grasshopper, Valanga irregularis sits on a pomegranate
in the garden. As the name suggests, they are a large grasshopper, adults can grow to 90mm long. They have a variable colour.
We have had them in the garden for a number of the years and don't really mind them here as the local birds help keep them under control. Other folk who grow vegetables find them a pest.
Extra information
www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/farms-fishing-forestry...
This is either the South American Pampas Grass (a noxious weed in New Zealand), or it's the NZ native Toe Toe (pronounced "Toy Toy").
I'm going to take a punt and suggest that this is Pampas. According to a Greater Wellington Regional Council biosecurity adviser, Pampas can survive nearly anything and can invade almost any habitat - and this plant is invading the vacant block of land that this hedgerow is sitting on.
I photographed it while on a recent 1.5km walk around the neighbourhood simply because I rather liked the way it was - well - blowin' in the wind...!
And speaking of blowin' in the wind, here's the song of the same name sung by Bob Dylan (which is especially for Flickr Friend Beverley (BlueberryAsh)... It's an Oldie but it's a Goodie...: www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMFj8uDubsE&ab_channel=BobDyl...
Enjoy it...!
A very BIG "Thank You" for all your prayers and kind messages; they are very gratefully appreciated thanks...!
And thank you also for your equally kind and encouraging comments beneath my photos...! Without your encouragement, I'd have probably given up on photography years ago...!
79150014
Silo art at Kimba
by artist Cam Scale
The artwork was officially openend in September 2017. Amazing work. The silos are 30m high.
For those traveling west across the Nullarbor on the Eyre Highway:
Kimba has a well-stocked IGA. The only 'problem' is to carefully choose which fresh vegetables may be taken into WA. Quarantine at the SA/WA border is very strict! See quarantine travellers guide below.
Do not buy fruit at the Border Village store which is in South Australia. The quarantine station is just about 100m away from the store but you will not be able to take fruit or vegetables purchased at the border store, into Western Australia.
I bought a couple of bananas at the Border strore, drove to the quarantine station where I was told I had to hand the over! I tried to argue that I just bought them at the border store. "Not permitted." But then was allowed to cross the border into WA, with my two bananas, do a U-turn, go back into South Australia, eat the bananas, and then cross the border again into Western Australia.
A handy quarantine travellers' guide in pdf:
www.interstatequarantine.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/0...
Interstate quarantine information:
www.interstatequarantine.org.au/
Importing to Western Australia:
www.agric.wa.gov.au/biosecurity-quarantine/quarantine/imp...
Basel, 7. November 2021
Unterscheidung Vulgaris / Germanica:
Vulgaris hat eine deutliche Gesichtszeichnung in Form eines Ankers; Germanica 1-3 Punkte oder einen schmalen Strich.
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemeine_Wespe
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_vulgaris
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristics_of_common_wasps_and...
www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-...
www.aktion-wespenschutz.de/Wespenarten/Wespenarten.HTM
www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our-research/biosecur...
One of the largest banana growing areas in Australia is centred around Innisfail and Tully in north Queensland. Bananas are grown also in New South Wales and Northern Territory. Apparently they are our No. 1 supermarket buy, up there with Coke (wow!)
Biosecurity is very tight owing to another very threatening pestilence, Panama Disease. If the crop gets it, the entire farm and possibly those nearby are quarantined immediately, bulldozed, burnt and treated. It's like the cardiac arrest of bananas.
www.awe.gov.au/biosecurity-trade/pests-diseases-weeds/pla...
The bunches are covered by plastic to protect them although they are not allowed to ripen. Commercial ripening is done with ethylene gas in a controlled environment (ripening sheds) so they are near perfect when you buy them.
Here is the process.
www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/food-journ...
For those not familiar with the rather famous TV couple, Bananas in Pyjamas, here is the link.
The rainbow lorikeet (Trichoglossus haematodus) is an Unwanted Organism under the Biosecurity Act 1993, with an exemption for bird fanciers to hold and sell birds. Birds may still be kept as pets in secure aviaries and cages but it is illegal to release a rainbow lorikeet into the wild. People releasing them into the wild may face heavy penalties.
Significant numbers of captive–reared birds were illegally and deliberately released in the Auckland area in the 1990s and had started breeding in the wild. By 1999 a feral population of 150–200 birds had established in the Auckland region, proving that they can survive and adapt to the New Zealand environment.
Evidence shows that rainbow lorikeets compete with native birds by dominating their food sources and nesting sites. They are capable of dislodging much larger birds than themselves. They may also carry avian diseases which can threaten the health of native bird species.
(c) Dominic Scott 2020
Bees are wonderful and very important creatures. Varroa mites are tiny red-brown external parasites of honey bees. With our strict biosecurity, Australia was the last continent to be free of the parasite - until last year. Their future is now up in the air.
Rikenon ‘Tomioka’ 60mm f2.8 1:1 Macro
Lots of white spots* here, this was shot on another bleak Brisbane day earlier this year and the always attendant Silver Gulls weee having none of it. They were mostly logged off!
* Just as an explanation, White Spot disease (see sign at rear) is a disease that affects prawns in particular and causes their death. There have been a number of outbreaks in SE Queensland in recent years including in prawn farms and it is devastating to the industry. It does not affect humans if they eat the prawns but when identified, especially in farms they have to close and be totally cleaned out. Here is a note
"White spot disease is a highly contagious viral infection that affects crustaceans. The disease is caused by white spot syndrome virus.
Seven prawn farms on the Logan River were affected from late 2016 to early 2017. The virus was also first detected in wild populations of crustaceans, such as prawns and crabs in Moreton Bay in early 2017.
Prawn farmers on the Logan River have applied a range of enhanced biosecurity measures throughout their production cycle to reduce the risk of a disease recurrence.
There have been no detections or evidence of the virus in the Logan River prawn farms during the 2020/21 production season. Five farms have returned to production.
White spot syndrome virus has established in some populations of wild crustaceans within the Queensland Movement Regulated Area (MRA). All areas of Australia, outside of the MRA, remain free from the virus.
Movement and fishing restrictions remain in place in the MRA.
National arrangements of ongoing surveillance including targeted surveillance for the boundaries of the MRA will continue
Hand embroidered on thrifted white cotton canvas, Made into a paper/fabric weight pillow with a rice-filled inner pillow (which did not survive New Zealand biosecurity) and padded out with polyfill fiber.
The storm was vicious. It pounded the mighty ranges with gusto, scraping muddy debris off the mountains into the pristine waters of Lake Rotoiti. It signed off its passing with a murky stain still visible on the edge of the image.
The calamity rattled a few feathers, literally, including the ones belonging to a little mysterious visitor who made Nelson Lakes National Park its home. A rather curious aberration for a country with a stringent biosecurity system in place.
The Mandarin duck, a native of East Asia, has been a resident for a while and turned into an attraction for tourists and locals alike. They affectionately named him Alphonso, I believe, as the most common Chinese name they could think of.
Lantana is a category 3 restricted invasive plant under the Australian Biosecurity Act 2014. Native to tropical and sub-tropical parts of Central and South America, lantana is a heavily branched shrub that can grow as compact clumps, dense thickets, and scrambling and climbing vines. It can smother native vegetation and form impenetrable stands.
49. Invasive species
121 in 2021
Yellow Cattle calf.
In 2007, with much controversy, DVS imported 2000 heads of Yellow Cattle from China. We overcome many obstacles in doing it, including financial and biosecurity. For years this herd undergoes long quarantine in DVS farms with heavy disease testing and monitoring. Now, the herd started multiplying fast.
This breed has a high calving rate, more than 90% annually. They adapted fast to Malaysian climate and pasture with high resistant to local diseases. They are also small and almost the same size with the local breed, Kedah-Kelantan makes it suitable to cross-breed with. In near future, next year maybe, DVS will be using the herd progeny for breeding and production programmes throughout the country.
We visited Martin Mere (Wildfowl and Wetland Trust) today and while there were many wild birds on the mere, we noticed that some of the captive species had been removed from their pens with notes stating they had been removed to protect them from winter illness. We then saw this group of people with nets, catching more of the birds, presumably to take them to the safety of enclosed pens.
I have just read that a UK wide prevention zone has been declared, after cases of bird flu have been found in the UK. They stress that this is unlikely to be a risk to the public but (quote):
"All bird-keepers are required by law to follow strict biosecurity measures from Wednesday in a bid to stop the disease being passed from wild birds to their flocks."
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/bird-flu-uk-2021-...
These flies have just arrived at our place! :-(
Stable fly (Stomoxys calcitrans) is an international insect that has become an aggravating pest in Western Australia, particularly on the coastal plain, north and south of Perth. It can attack humans, domestic pets and livestock, seeking to draw blood which is essential to complete its life cycle.
On 2 September 2013 stable fly was included as a declared pest under the Biosecurity and Management Act 2007, administered by the Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia (DAFWA). New regulations are in force to manage this pest in 11 designated local government areas.
More information: www.agric.wa.gov.au/vegetables/stable-
fly-western-australia 2 more photos in first comment.
Social distancing, or physical distancing, is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures taken to prevent the spread of a contagious disease by maintaining a physical distance between people and reducing the number of times people come into close contact with each other. It involves keeping a distance of six feet or two meters from others and avoiding gathering together in large groups. By reducing the probability that a given uninfected person will come into physical contact with an infected person, the disease transmission can be suppressed, resulting in fewer deaths. The measures are combined with good respiratory hygiene and hand washing. During the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) suggested the reference to "physical" as an alternative to "social", in keeping with the notion that it is a physical distance which prevents transmission; people can remain socially connected via technology. To slow down the spread of infectious diseases and avoid overburdening healthcare systems, particularly during a pandemic, several social distancing measures are used, including the closing of schools and workplaces, isolation, quarantine, restricting movement of people and the cancellation of mass gatherings. Social distancing measures date back to at least the fifth century BCE. The biblical book of Leviticus contains one of the earliest known references to the practice, likely as response to leprosy. During the Plague of Justinian, emperor Justinian enforced an ineffective quarantine on the Byzantine Empire, including dumping bodies into the sea, blaming the widespread outbreak predominately on "Jews, Samaritans, pagans, heretics, Arians, Montanists, and homosexuals".[11] In modern times, social distancing measures have been successfully implemented in several previous epidemics. In St. Louis, shortly after the first cases of influenza were detected in the city during the 1918 flu pandemic, authorities implemented school closures, bans on public gatherings and other social distancing interventions. The case fatality rates in St. Louis were much less than in Philadelphia, which despite having cases of influenza, allowed a mass parade to continue and did not introduce social distancing until more than two weeks after its first cases. Social distancing has also been used during the 2019-20 coronavirus epidemic. Social distancing measures are more effective when the infectious disease spreads via droplet contact (coughing or sneezing); direct physical contact, including sexual contact; indirect physical contact (e.g., by touching a contaminated surface); or airborne transmission (if the microorganism can survive in the air for long periods). The measures are less effective when an infection is transmitted primarily via contaminated water or food or by vectors such as mosquitoes or other insects.Drawbacks of social distancing can include loneliness, reduced productivity and the loss of other benefits associated with human interaction. Since January, Taiwan, India and Thailand, all of which also make face masks, have banned their export, although, to help China, India later temporarily revoked its restriction. South Korea also banned the export of masks, as will Indonesia soon. Outside Asia, Russia, Germany and the Czech Republic also stopped exports in early March. So did Kenya, where the first case of coronavirus was confirmed on March 13.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released straightforward guidance in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic: Everyone in the US should wear a cloth mask or face covering while in certain public settings. The recommendation marks a shift from the federal government. Less than six weeks ago, Surgeon General Jerome Adams tweeted that members of the general public should “STOP BUYING MASKS!” He added that masks “are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” The CDC is still advising against the general public wearing traditional medical masks, such as surgical variants and N95 respirators, to preserve them for health care workers. The shift in messaging on cloth masks, the agency said, came in light of evidence that people with few or no symptoms of Covid-19 can still transmit the virus. The CDC now recommends everyone use cloth masks in public. The upshot: Masks can help stop the spread of coronavirus not just by protecting the wearer, but by preventing the wearer — who could be an asymptomatic spreader — from breathing and spitting their germs everywhere. Some studies in households and colleges “show a benefit of masks,” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have described social distancing as a set of "methods for reducing frequency and closeness of contact between people in order to decrease the risk of transmission of disease".[10] During the 2019–2020 coronavirus pandemic, the CDC revised the definition of social distancing as "remaining out of congregrate settings, avoiding mass gatherings, and maintaining distance (approximately six feet or two meters) from others when possible". Previously, in 2009, the WHO described social distancing as "keeping at least an arm's length distance from others, [and] minimizing gatherings".[7] It is combined with good respiratory hygiene and hand washing, and is considered the most feasible way to reduce or delay a pandemic.Raina MacIntyre, head of the Biosecurity Research Program at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, told me, “so it would be plausible that they would also protect in lower-intensity transmission settings such as in the general community.” But masks do not make you invincible. They can’t replace good hygiene — Wash your hands! Don’t touch your face! — and social distancing, both of which have been key to stemming the coronavirus even in Asian countries where widespread mask use was already common. Epidemiological models also suggest coronavirus cases will rise if social distancing measures are relaxed, potentially causing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of deaths in the US alone. That’s true whether people are gathering wearing masks or not. People wear masks in midtown New York City on April 6. Kena Betancur/Getty Images. Still, the CDC’s about-face has left many people with plenty of questions: What does it mean to use a mask correctly? When should they be used and washed? Do you need them for all public situations? Can they really keep you safe? If you can’t find a mask, how can you make one? Knowing that a disease is circulating may trigger a change in behaviour by people choosing to stay away from public places and other people. When implemented to control epidemics, such social distancing can result in benefits but with an economic cost. Research indicates that measures must be applied rigorously and immediately in order to be effective. Several social distancing measures are used to control the spread of contagious illnesses. And why aren’t there more medical masks to begin with? Here’s a guide to some of the most common questions. Avoiding physical contact: Social distancing includes eliminating the physical contact that occurs with the typical handshake, hug, or hongi; this illustration offers eight alternatives. Keeping at least two-metre (six-foot) distance from each other and avoiding hugs and gestures that involve direct physical contact, reduce the risk of becoming infected during flu pandemics and the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. These distances of separation, in addition to personal hygiene measures, are also recommended at places of work.Where possible it may be recommended to work from home. Various alternatives have been proposed for the tradition of handshaking. The gesture of namaste, placing one's palms together, fingers pointing upwards, drawing the hands to the heart, is one non-touch alternative. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United Kingdom, this gesture was used by Prince Charles upon greeting reception guests, and has been recommended by the Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Other alternatives include the wave, the shaka (or "hang loose") sign, and placing a palm on your heart, as practiced in parts of Iran.
1) When should I wear a mask?
According to the CDC, you should wear a mask in public, particularly while in “settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies)” and “especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.” Think of circumstances where it’s going to be harder to keep at least 6 feet away from other people, especially in closed, poorly ventilated places. It’s in those kinds of situations that coronavirus-containing droplets are more likely to spread by air or surfaces. There are some exceptions to the mask guidance, the CDC stated: “Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.” The evidence for everyone wearing masks, explained. And be warned: If you use a mask incorrectly, or start acting recklessly because you’re wearing a mask, it could actually hurt you more than it helps.
If you fidget with your mask, and especially if you touch your face in the process, you can infect yourself with virus-containing droplets your mask caught. If you reuse a mask without cleaning it, you can breathe in or otherwise expose yourself to droplets the mask captured last time. If you generally ease up on good hygiene or social distancing because you’re wearing a mask, you’re putting yourself — and your community — at greater risk.
The CDC offers some tips for how to properly use a mask. Above all, don’t touch the mask and then touch other parts of your face, especially your eyes, mouth, and nose. The entire point of this fabric is to shield you from outside germs. So you don’t want to touch the part of the mask doing the shielding and then the parts of your face that are vulnerable to infection. You should also wash your hands before and after taking off a mask — before to avoid getting anything on your face and mask, and after to get rid of anything that was on your mask. Remove the mask with the loops, not by touching the front. If possible, throw away disposable masks after using them. And if you can’t throw a mask away, make sure to thoroughly disinfect it with ultraviolet light sterilizers — not something most people have around — or, if using a cloth product, throw it in the wash or clean it with soap and water. For some people, it might make sense to have multiple masks around if you have to go out multiple times on a particular day. The important thing, though, is to throw a recently used mask in the laundry or in the wash as soon as possible and avoid touching it at all until it’s clean. Do not keep dirty masks around your house, where people can easily touch them and potentially infect themselves.
2) What kind of mask should I use? The CDC recommends a cloth mask or face covering, whether a professionally made mask or a homemade variant. The CDC explicitly advises against the general public using a surgical mask, which is the standard mask you’ve probably seen doctors and nurses wear. It also advises against the public using N95 respirators, which are more complex, expensive masks meant to fit more tightly on the face.
Surgical masks and N95 respirators, the agency noted, “are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.” New York City nurses and health workers gather to demand safer working conditions, more personal protective equipment (PPE), and free virus testing during the Covid-19 outbreak on April 6. Giles Clarke/Getty Images As it stands, there is a serious shortage of PPE, including masks, for health care workers. There are reports of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers using bandanas and scarves for masks and trash bags for gowns. Hospitals are considering do-not-resuscitate orders for dying Covid-19 patients out of fear that such intensive, close-up procedures could get doctors and nurses without PPE infected with the virus. The CDC, acknowledging the shortage, previously recommended homemade masks for health care workers when no other options are available. “I am worried that telling people to wear masks will strain already weak supplies that are needed by doctors and nurses,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, told me. “If we are able to fix that supply chain, I’d feel less worried about this. But some of the shortages initially were due to members of public and medical staff raiding medical offices’ and hospitals’ supplies for home use.” Private companies and public officials are racing to fix the PPE shortage. But until it’s fixed, it’s critical that the existing supplies of surgical masks and N95 respirators are left for health care workers who are literally saving people from this pandemic.
3) Will a mask protect me from getting Covid-19? The CDC’s guidance — and the best argument for wearing a mask, according to the experts I spoke with — is primarily to stop the wearer from infecting other people. That’s especially important for Covid-19, since at least some spread happens when people are asymptomatic, when they have few symptoms, or before they develop symptoms. Universal mask use could stop these asymptomatic carriers, many of whom might not even know they’re sick, from inadvertently infecting other people. Masks also can offer some protection from others by putting a physical barrier between them and your mouth and nose. But we don’t know how much, because it’s unclear how much the virus spreads through airborne droplets or aerosols. Masks can’t replace all the other approaches needed to fight the coronavirus, like washing your hands, not touching your face, and social distancing. Still, when paired with all these other tactics — and when used correctly — masks offer an extra layer of protection.
The quality of the research on this topic is weak, with a lot of small, underpowered studies. But the studies that do exist generally favor more people wearing masks. A 2008 systematic review, published in BMJ, found medical masks halted the spread of respiratory viruses from likely infected patients. In particular, studies on the 2003 outbreak of SARS — a cousin to the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 — found that masks alone were 68 percent effective at preventing the virus. By comparison, washing hands more than 10 times a day was 55 percent effective. A combination of measures such as hand-washing, masks, gloves, and gowns was 91 percent effective.
A 2015 review, also published in BMJ, looked at mask use among people in community settings, specifically households and colleges. Some studies produced unclear results, but the findings overall indicated that wearing a mask protected people from infections compared to not wearing a mask, especially when paired with hand-washing. A big issue was adherence; people were often bad at actually wearing masks, which, unsurprisingly, diminished their effectiveness. But if masks were used early and consistently, the authors concluded, they seemed to work. MASKS CAN’T REPLACE ALL THE OTHER APPROACHES NEEDED TO FIGHT THE CORONAVIRUS, LIKE WASHING YOUR HANDS, NOT TOUCHING YOUR FACE, AND SOCIAL DISTANCING A more recent study published in Nature Medicine found that surgical masks appear to block droplets and aerosols containing some viruses, including the flu and coronavirus. Other studies have produced similar results, typically finding at least some protective value from masks as long as they’re used consistently and properly. The results vary depending on the mask. N95 respirators are, in theory, the best possible masks. But they require a bit of skill and fitting to use — to the point that a 2016 review in CMAJ couldn’t find a difference among health care workers using N95 respirators versus surgical masks for respiratory infection, likely due to poor fitting. That’s another reason these masks should be reserved for the professionals. Cloth masks, meanwhile, are much less effective than surgical masks or N95 respirators, as a 2015 study in BMJ found. And they can be extra risky, since they can trap and hold virus-containing droplets that wearers can then breathe in. But they still, in general, offer more protection than no mask at all, several studies concluded. There’s no good research on how wearing a mask could affect people’s behaviors, but the experience of some Asian countries suggests it’s possible to adopt social distancing, good hygiene, and masks in the midst of an outbreak. Taiwan and South Korea, for example, have done a better job containing Covid-19 than the US while embracing masks and all the other evidence-based measures. To emphasize: Yes, masks can help. But they’re not an excuse to ease up on social distancing, good hygiene, and all the other things public health officials are recommending right now. Do all of those things too.
4) Do I need a mask if I’m walking or running in the open air?
Probably not — but if used properly, wearing a mask probably can’t hurt, and might help encourage others to wear one too.
The CDC specifies that it’s recommending cloth face coverings where social distancing isn’t possible. A solitary walk or run outside is typically not going to fall into one of those categories.
In general, masks become more helpful as the risk of infection increases. If you’re having closer, more prolonged contact with potentially sick people, using a mask is more likely to protect you. And if you’re potentially sick and having closer, more prolonged contact with others, a mask is more likely to protect them from your germs as well. “Are people having those prolonged, close-contact interactions with people?” Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist focused on hospital preparedness, told me. “Because that’s what’s more considered high-risk. … It’s that face-to-face for a significant chunk of time.” That’s why the CDC had already recommended masks for people who know they’re sick or interacting with someone who’s sick. People who frequently interact with others as part of their jobs, like a first responder or a grocery store clerk, are more likely to get good use out of masks too. That especially includes health care workers, who spend more time with sick people than anyone else — which is why they need masks and other PPE more.
Certain populations also may want to especially consider masks in less risky environments, such as people who are older or have underlying health issues, like a compromised immune system, that put them at greater risk if they’re infected. Besides the health benefits, there’s also a potential social value to wearing a mask everywhere: It could push more people to do so as well. If more people are out in public wearing face coverings, that could help remove the stigma that only sick people wear masks. So if you go out with a mask in more situations, it could not only help you and those around you, but it might help instill a healthier norm for the rest of society too.
5) How do I make a mask? There are a lot of options! But keep in mind guidance, from the CDC, about a proper mask: It should fit snugly but comfortably around the face, be secured around the ears with ties or loops, include multiple layers of fabric, allow for breathing without restriction, and be readily washable without damage. If you have the time and can sew, the CDC recommends a face covering that can be made with two 10-inch by 6-inch rectangles of cotton fabric, two 6-inch pieces of elastic or rubber bands, string, cloth strips, or hair ties, a needle and thread or bobby pin, scissors, and a sewing machine. Here’s the agency’s four-step tutorial: If you’re like me and the idea of sewing anything sounds like a total nightmare, the CDC offers a non-sewing option. It just requires a T-shirt and a pair of scissors. Here’s the three-step tutorial: A three-step tutorial for a mask made from a T-shirt. If you’re even more like me and that mask is still too much, the surgeon general posted a 45-second video guide on Twitter for an even easier mask that can be made solely with a T-shirt or just about any other cloth fabric and two rubber bands: Chances are the less skill-intensive, less time-consuming masks will be, at the very least, less comfortable, and maybe harder to wear for long. But if you’re in a pinch, or if you’re unable to do more complicated tailoring, the easier alternatives offer more protection than nothing.
6) Why aren’t more medical masks available? The simple answer is that supply hasn’t kept up with demand. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, China made half the world’s face masks. When the outbreak took off there, China started to use its supply and hoard what remained. This problem has only spread since, as more and more countries hoard whatever medical supplies they can get — with some, like Germany, even banning most PPE exports. So as demand increased due to Covid-19 — not just from health care workers but from a general public increasingly scared of infection — there was less supply to go around. On a deeper level, though, the shortage in masks and other PPE reflects America’s — and, really, the rest of the world’s — poor preparedness for a pandemic. The mask and broader PPE shortage, in fact, was well-known to the US government before the Covid-19 outbreak, yet the US did not prepare. “When we have done exercises in the past for pandemic preparedness, supply chain issues were a well-documented challenge,” Popescu said. “This is something we’ve known about — maybe not to this extent, but this isn’t a shocker. It’s more surprising that we let it get this bad.” One of those simulations held by the federal government, as the New York Times reported, covered a pandemic that looked a lot like the one we’re facing now: a respiratory virus that started in China and made its way to the US and the rest of the world. Among the many problems, the Times found, were “deficiencies ‘in personal protective equipment use.’” The exercise found that the US didn’t have the means to quickly produce more PPE. When states turned to the federal government for help in the exercise, there was “confusion” and “bureaucratic chaos” as requests and submissions hit multiple agencies at once. This was far from the only simulation to produce these results, experts told me. Jeremy Konyndyk, senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, argued a previous outbreak should have acted as a warning for the world: the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak. While working in President Barack Obama’s administration at the time, Konyndyk quickly realized that the US — and much of the world — was simply not ready for a major disease outbreak. “I came away from that experience just completely horrified at how unready we would be for something more dangerous than Ebola,” he said, noting Ebola was, thankfully, relatively hard to transmit. Indeed, experts and advocates argue that the US generally underfunds disease outbreak preparedness and public health programs more broadly. It’s these concerns that led the Obama administration, after the Ebola outbreak, to attempt to scale up preparedness by establishing a White House office dedicated solely to the issue and producing a 69-page playbook in case of an outbreak. But President Donald Trump’s administration neglected and rolled back these efforts, eventually disbanding the White House office.
We’ve seen the results in the botched rollout of coronavirus testing, but PPE offers another example. America could have shored up its supplies of PPE in its strategic stockpile. It could have ensured that there would be surge capacity to boost production in case of emergency. And it should have been doing this all before the coronavirus pandemic. But it didn’t, even after it became clearer, around January and February, that the coronavirus was a looming threat. By early March, federal officials acknowledged the Strategic National Stockpile had just 1 percent of the medical masks the country needed in a full-blown pandemic. “The US … was not prepared,” Jen Kates, director of global health and HIV policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told me. “A good preparedness plan would have helped address this and had things in place to allow for that increased need to be met.” So the US is playing catch-up with different public and private interventions to boost PPE production. Until that’s fixed, we simply don’t have enough medical masks to go around.
7) If medical masks are better, why shouldn’t I get some for myself? Because health care workers need them more, since they’re constantly in contact with those who are sick — in a way not many other people, if any, in the general public are. And even if you take a totally selfish perspective on this, there are good reasons to want health care workers to get these medical masks first. As coronavirus has spread, experts have talked up “flattening the curve.” The idea is to spread out the number of coronavirus cases — through social distancing, testing, contact tracing, and other protective measures — to avoid overwhelming the health care system. Here’s what that looks like in chart form:
An infographic that shows the goals of mitigation during an outbreak with two curves. The X-axis represents the number of daily cases and they Y-axis represents the amount of time since the first case. The first curve represents the number of cases when no protective measures during an outbreak are implemented and displays a large peak. The second curve is much lower, representing a much smaller rise in the number of cases if protective measures are implemented. Christina Animashaun/Vox
The PPE shortage could make it harder to flatten the curve of new cases if doctors and nurses get sick. But the line representing health care system capacity also isn’t a constant. If we develop more capacity, it can handle more cases at once. If capacity falls — if doctors and nurses get sick because of a lack of protective equipment, or refuse to work without conditions that can ensure their safety — even a flatter curve will be hard for the system to handle. That’s why experts, even those who acknowledge that the public would benefit from using masks, say that doctors and nurses should get priority: This isn’t just about keeping people on the front lines safe; it’s about keeping all of us safe. To put it in selfish terms: If you do get sick with the coronavirus or anything else during this pandemic, and you want to make sure that there are doctors and nurses available to treat you, you should let them get the masks they need first.
It’s true that we might all be better off wearing surgical masks in an ideal world. But that’s not the world we live in right now. For all our sakes, we should act accordingly.
8) If masks are so great, why is the CDC just telling us this now?
Officially, the CDC has said it changed its stance with the changing evidence. As it became clearer that asymptomatic transmission was happening with the coronavirus, the CDC argued, the benefits of everyone wearing a mask increased, since they could help stop transmission from people who don’t even know they’re sick. Unofficially, the answer is a little more complicated. In my discussions with public health officials and experts before the CDC changed its guidance, it seemed many people were afraid of saying anything that could exacerbate the PPE shortage for health care workers or get members of the general public to think — incorrectly — that they could ease social distancing measures if they just wear a mask. “I fear that if we tell everyone they should go out and buy masks, it will not only contribute to the PPE shortage,” Jaimie Meyer, an infectious disease expert at Yale University, told me, “but it will give a false sense of a ‘quick fix’ for protection, whereas people still need to be practicing social distancing strategies that are much more effective, though perhaps socially, psychologically, [and] logistically challenging.” Trump ordered more N95 masks. 3M says his tactics could make the shortage worse. Part of the issue is the CDC also operates on a different evidence level than a lot of the public. The agency tends to follow the best reviews of the scientific evidence with very rigorous standards for what’s a good study and what’s not. So what may sound like good enough evidence and reasoning to you and me may not be good enough for the CDC. Since the scientific evidence for public mask use isn’t great — even if it’s generally positive — the CDC, as an agency filled with scientists, was just more skeptical of taking a leap than many laypeople were. Regardless of the reasoning, the CDC’s messaging backfired. As health care workers clamored for masks, it became increasingly harder to tell the public that masks wouldn’t benefit everyone else. By obfuscating and failing to fully explain the issue, officials likely sowed distrust toward their guidance. And the public rushed to buy masks anyway.
9) How can I donate masks to health care workers?
The dire shortage of masks and other PPE has led to several options for donations: If you want to make and donate cloth masks, WeNeedMasks.org provides options for most states and Puerto Rico. If you have surgical masks, N95 respirators, and other PPE around, #GetUsPPE is another option. (Although note that many places will only take unopened supplies.)
If you’re a manufacturer or supplier, the N95 Project is trying to connect companies that make or have masks with the hospitals and clinics that need them. At this point in the pandemic, health care workers and facilities all over the country will gladly accept the help they can take. Some places, like New York and Louisiana, are dealing with much worse coronavirus outbreaks right now and really need the supplies today. But it’s also worth being realistic about just how far donations can go. Given the research, cloth masks are simply not suitable replacements for actual medical masks. With medical masks, N95 respirators are widely regarded as more effective than conventional surgical masks when properly fitted. So even with donations, it’s on the federal government to set up more production and coordination of supply lines to make sure places in need get PPE. It’s on private producers to step up and do what they can. (Some car, clothing, and pillow companies, among others, have already done so.) And it’s on us — to make sure that the existing supplies of masks and other PPE are made available to health care workers. Americans can accomplish that, in part, with donations, but we can also do that by not buying surgical masks or N95 respirators until the shortage is fixed, and instead relying on cloth and homemade coverings. So, yes, health experts recommend wearing a mask in public. Just don’t take one from health care workers. And keep doing all the other things public health officials recommend, like social distancing and washing your hands, as we deal with this pandemic. Support Vox’s explanatory journalism Every day at Vox, we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you, and our audience around the world, with information that has the power to save lives. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower you through understanding. Vox’s work is reaching more people than ever, but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn. Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation, but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles, videos, and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today. Since the beginning of March and the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, Chinese companies have sold nearly 4 billion face masks overseas, according to authorities. For Beijing, this is a perfect way to change the narrative: China is now offering its assistance to virus-hit countries while trying to leave the mistakes of the early outbreak in the past. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, face masks have become a hot commodity and international competition is fierce. Last week, a number of French politicians accused the US of buying up Chinese face masks ordered by France. In one case, the Americans allegedly outbid the French on the airport tarmac in China. China is the biggest producer of masks on the planet and is getting orders from around the world. With the Covid-19 pandemic now under control in the country, factories have been mobilised to boost production. Since early April, China has been able to produce 200 million masks a day. In the case of a second wave of infections, will China continue to send masks to the entire planet? With a population of 1.5 billion inhabitants, the country would need to protect itself too. Mathematical modeling has shown that transmission of an outbreak may be delayed by closing schools. However, effectiveness depends on the contacts children maintain outside of school. Often, one parent has to take time off work, and prolonged closures may be required. These factors could result in social and economic disruption. Modeling and simulation studies based on U.S. data suggest that if 10% of affected workplaces are closed, the overall infection transmission rate is around 11.9% and the epidemic peak time is slightly delayed. In contrast, if 33% of affected workplaces are closed, the attack rate decreases to 4.9%, and the peak time is delayed by one week. Workplace closures include closure of "non-essential" businesses and social services ("non-essential" means those facilities that do not maintain primary functions in the community, as opposed to essential services). Cancellation of mass gatherings includes sports events, films or musical shows. Evidence suggesting that mass gatherings increase the potential for infectious disease transmission is inconclusive.[30] Anecdotal evidence suggests certain types of mass gatherings may be associated with increased risk of influenza transmission, and may also "seed" new strains into an area, instigating community transmission in a pandemic. During the 1918 influenza pandemic, military parades in Philadelphia and Bostonmay have been responsible for spreading the disease by mixing infected sailors with crowds of civilians. Restricting mass gatherings, in combination with other social distancing interventions, may help reduce transmission.Border restrictions or internal travel restrictions are unlikely to delay an epidemic by more than two to three weeks unless implemented with over 99% coverage.Airport screening was found to be ineffective in preventing viral transmission during the 2003 SARS outbreak in Canada[35] and the U.S.[36] Strict border controls between Austria and the Ottoman Empire, imposed from 1770 until 1871 to prevent persons infected with the bubonic plague from entering Austria, were reportedly effective, as there were no major outbreaks of plague in Austrian territory after they were established, whereas the Ottoman Empire continued to suffer frequent epidemics of plague until the mid-nineteenth century. A Northeastern University study published in March 2020 found that "travel restrictions to and from China only slow down the international spread of COVID-19 [when] combined with efforts to reduce transmission on a community and an individual level. [...] Travel restrictions aren't enough unless we couple it with social distancing."[39] The study found that the travel ban in Wuhan delayed the spread of the disease to other parts of mainland China only by three to five days, although it did reduce the spread of international cases by as much as 80 percent. A primary reason travel restrictions were less effective is that many people with COVID-19 do not show symptoms during the early stages of infection.
Apparently the pride of the Turks Poultry fleet viewed with its personalised CRNFED plate signifying “Turks corn-fed chicken”, snapped loading at the Foxton plant of Turks Poultry in Purcell St. on Thursday, 11 August 2016.
NEW FREE RANGE SHEDS PRODUCE 30,000 CHICKENS A WEEK NEAR FOXTON
19 January 2016
By JILL GALLOWAY
Ron Turk is the managing director of Turks Poultry based in Foxton, with chicken sheds in Himatangi.
Ron Turk would like to bust a few chicken myths.
Myth buster number one: There are no hormones in New Zealand chicken and there hasn't been for more than 40 years, he says.
He doesn't know if hormones are used in other counties.
The second myth that New Zealand meat chickens are raised in cages is also untrue. They have never been raised in cages.
Day old chicks arrive and grow for up to 42 days before they are processed
Contrary to popular belief, chickens don't like bright sunshine, strong winds or conditions which are too cold.
Turk should know what he's talking about. He is part owner with the Pedison and Stella families of seven new free-range sheds producing 30,000 chickens a week. The name of the enterprise is Le Poulet Fabuleux, which translated means "fabulous chicken".
There are 30,000 chickens in each shed.
Day old chicks arrive and grow for up to 42 days before they are processed. Between the six growing weeks a week is reserved for cleaning the shed. The rotation between seven sheds meand each week a shed of 30,000 chickens is sent to the market. During that time food and water is available on demand.
The chickens are taken to a processing plant in Foxton. About 90 per cent of them are sold fresh with the remainder frozen and they are sold to supermarket and other stores, restaurants or exported to Asia.
The chickens have the option to go outside too.
The shed looks like new after been cleaned. The new chicks are put in one half of the shed which has been heated to 32 degrees which is the temperature under a mother hen.
"We reduce it half a degree a day. We give them the whole shed at day seven."
He says Caldow Builders began building the first shed 14 months ago with another shed built every nine weeks until the last one was completed just before Christmas.
Some chicken runs have yet to be completed. The sheds are 140 metres long and 16m wide (2240sq metres).
Each shed has a concrete floor and a steel frame and its walls and roof are made of insulation panels. The shed has large shutters to release heat and large pop holes for the birds to roam outside in the grass runs once they are well feathered at about 19 days old.
"The chickens go outside early in the morning, they like cloudy days. They don't like bright sunshine and will go inside, they are scared of being a meal for a hawk so we put netting over their run which also cuts the brightness of the sun. We are still trying ways to encourage more birds further out from the shed."
Turk is a man who is happy to show people the farm. There is no secret squirrel stuff at the new sheds.
He wants people to know how it all works.
"If you are not proud of what you do, then you shouldn't do it".
Computers in each shed control the lights, feeding and temperature and shows visitors on site all the information they need to know to grow good healthy chickens, Turk says.
"The breed of chicken is cobb and there are males and females. Genetic selection to produce birds with more breast meat led to some leg problems which was quickly addressed that now we have very little leg issues."
Turk says they like the growing farms to be close to the processing plant so the chickens don't have to travel far. The furthest farm is 35 minutes away, and Turk says he wouldn't want the distance any further.
Biosecurity and chicken health are a high priority at the operation, as is animal welfare.
Entering any shed requires a sanitised foot bath and then there is a line which can only be crossed by people wearing overalls, clean gumboots and a hairnet and who have sterilised their hands.
"Our farms operate well above the industry standards," says Turk.
He has only good things to say about Horizons Regional Council and Horowhenua District Council which have both been helpful and supportive. The Ministry of Primary Industries audits all New Zealand chicken farms.
The chicken operation is the major employer in the Horowhenua town.
"This new farm has added an extra 30 jobs at Turks Poultry in Foxton," says Turk.
Turk considers himself a logical type of guy and initially thought all people would be much the same. After undergoing some training including personality profiling he has a better appreciation of the differences between people.
Four years and a lot of training later, he says the company is a different and better place.
Turk is strong on governance with a board of directors made up of family and two independent directors, one who is the chairman.
"Training is high in the list of priorities on all levels of the company. This helps team members not only at work but also in their personal life."
He is proud of the business-focussed Foxton operation and providing jobs for people in the area.
A bit more about Ron Turk.
Ron Turk is the managing director of Turk's Poultry Farm Ltd.
Turks has 210 people employed. There are IT people, compliance (quality) people, truck drivers, engineers, and many others.
They process 25000 birds a day, and add value with smoked chicken, chicken sausages and lots more.
About 500 tonnes of chicken feed is made and consumed a week. Part of that mix uses 14,000 tonne of local maize a year.
Ron Turk says chickens grow fast with good weight gain and few leg problems. New Zealand has the best health status for chicken growing in the world, he says. Day old chicks arrive and grow for up to 42 days before they are processed
The chickens are sold mainly in the North Island. It is also exporting to Japan and other countries. - Stuff
79150012
The Big Galah at Kimba and HALF WAY ACROSS AUSTRALIA
Half way probably meaning between Adelaide and Esperance - I think...
We were told that there was an excellent bakery (not this one) somewhere in town, but we couldn't find it. There is a well-stocked IGA in Kimba and we bought fresh fruit and vegetables, some of which we had to toss again at the Border Village Quarantine station. We found it a bit difficult to plan ahead :)
For those traveling across the Nullarbor on the Eyre Highway:
Interstate quarantine information:
www.interstatequarantine.org.au/
Importing to Western Australia:
www.agric.wa.gov.au/biosecurity-quarantine/quarantine/imp...
Guemes Channel. Dakota Creek Industries Drydock.
Ronja Islander, completed construction in Norway in 2019
On the evening of March 8, 2025, the ship RONJA ISLANDER hit a rock in Tahsis Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, and began taking on water.
Here's a summary of the incident:
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria received a distress call from the RONJA ISLANDER.
The Canadian Coast Guard's Tahsis lifeboat station deployed the CCGS Cape Dauphin and a fast rescue craft to assist.
The vessel had sustained some damage and was taking on water, but there were no fish on board at the time.
The ship's pumps were able to manage the water ingress.
The crew adjusted the ballast to raise the damaged area above the waterline.
The RONJA ISLANDER was able to travel under its own power to the West Coast Marine Terminals in Gold River.
There were no injuries or pollution reported as a result of the incident.
The Transportation Safety Board was informed of the incident and is gathering information.
The 'Namgis First Nation expressed concerns about the incident and called for a thorough investigation.
Grieg Seafood, the company hiring the vessel, stated they would conduct their own investigation to prevent future occurrences.
About the ship RONJA ISLANDER:
IMO: 9858357
MMSI: 316015480
Call Sign: VACK
Flag: Canada
Vessel Type: Fish Carrier (Well boat)
Length Overall (LOA): 69.86 - 70 meters
Beam (Width): 12 meters
Built Year: 2019
Deadweight (DWT): 2,200 tonnes
Gross Tonnage: 1843
Registered Owner: Sølvtrans Wellboat AS
A left of field look at the extermination of aboriginal or indigenous woman. The genocide of their genetics, their culture, and its extended application to the extermination of the woman of the west, and their genocide. A look into the meta data of a Canadian genocide in progress, and its reflection on the USA, and the west. Looking at statistically applied genocide again, using an analysis of meta data, and gross numbers, with a good dose of just join the dots, thrown in for good measure.
Number for number, the extermination of woman is the most effective way to galvanise genocide, within a group or population. Either via VD (venereal disease), social engineering, or otherwise… The murder of female blood lines, via sterilization using germ warfare and social engineering, is and has been extraordinarily effective. The effectiveness relies on three major points, one, a woman getting VD that terminates her ability to have children, the second is that since an in-utero baby and or non-conceived foetus is classified as not human yet, there can be no charge of murder, and the third point is, that a woman who chooses a childless existence after indoctrination are seen to be exerting her own free will, in a process of self-determination.
How would I know, or have a right to comment? At one stage I was approached to work in the Biosecurity facility in Victoria, Australia, an offer I declined. Why head hunt me? I had been doing theorisation at university on the logic patterns for treatments and curing of HIV, as a 19-year-old, it must have resonated with someone, for them to send someone to the university to see me. So, no, I am not some uneducated crack pot conspiracy theorist, and I hate to shatter some people’s little world or bubble, but people work at this type of horrid work both in defence and offence all the time. The other reason I am commenting is, I went behind, what some would call enemy lines, into the Arts humanities and observed firsthand, racist, and sexist indoctrination, of people just outside of their childhood. No, it should not have been seen as enemy lines or so I thought, as I am a feminist. But the level of misandry for white males was quite profound, and ironically misogynist behaviour conducted by females was quite shocking. Additionally, I feel at liberty to write, as I have studied and written about genocide at university.
So let’s get into it. Why murder or sterilize aboriginal or indigenous woman? One of the things I looked at was that men can impregnate hundreds in a lifetime, but a woman’s uterus is only so capable, it is in fact highly limited. I observed through finger printing or meta data and extrapolation that some abhorrent groups males and or females, are doing maths on how many women do they need to kill of aboriginal decent, before they get rid of all those that can be considered aboriginal. Why would someone or a group do something so horrible? This scenario will greatly aid foreign interests in the taking of countries like Australia and the Americas, in the future.
We are going to have a little look at a field of study that for some is unfortunately very large, and for some is a horrifically very creative field of endeavour, so my considerations and observations will be limited in scope, to keep this writing manageable.
My considerations of indigenous genocide raised many questions such as. Does giving up your land coincide or correlate with a reduction in a woman’s chance of genocide or an increase? And if so in either case why? If a woman will give up her uterus to outsiders, does she suffer a lower rate of genocide, or is it more? The techno YouTube hit by The Halluci Nation “Burn your village to the ground” help make me ponder similar questions, here is a link to the YouTube video www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNi__fnadTM&list=WL&index=82 It can be argued between warriors and wise men about the process of colonisation, its effect, and the motives for that colonization other than, the at times, murderous acquisition of land. But when it comes to the act of murderous colonisation, its effectiveness is amplified to an accelerated final solution of sorts. When you exterminate a woman’s genetics with the eradication of their unborn babies or foetuses before they are even conceived, it leaves no legal recourse. Murdering woman, and sterilizing them are potent weapons, when performing the act of genocide. When woman are used as breeding vessels, for foreign genetics, or sterilized via VD (venereal disease), or sterilized with anti-feminist dogma masquerading as feminist mantras, the result is a loss of land and resources. Before I go further, I will go on the record, that I have no issues with mixed race relationships, as I have been in a few. I have always found them enlightening, and culturally enriching, and it is my sincere hope that those relationships were mutually beneficial.
The relatively recent insertion into humanity and the debate about the purity of races goes back to a period most of us but not all of us wish had not happened, the second world war. And unusually it was a conundrum for those that argued it, and what would be the future outcomes in the west, if it had of been achieved globally. It presented a legal consideration that I have identified, and its possible application for many indigenous, and their extended families. In one respect it is not a complex one and is unusually of benefit to all nations who have an indigenous culture and or peoples. Provided an indigenous cultures and peoples still exist, it can be argued that under international law the west has a failsafe or caveat for future attempts of colonization via foreign powers. ie. if someone comes to our countries with colonialist intent trying to divide the tribes as it where, and says we, as in those considered nonindigenous have no write to be here, and that we, whoever we are, or may be have stolen the land, we politely ask our indigenous relatives, some of which need to be overtly aboriginal, to tell them to go away. They then say these are my blood relatives and this is not your land to comment on. For the new world order colonist, it is a slap in the face, and they are left eating their own words. It is a polite conversation, one that should end the colonialist’s verbal pursuit in its tracks, and it can only go further, if that foreign power, turns to violence, or a forced acquisition of the land through murder and or subjugation. It is simple legally, but a big ask emotionally, and politically, for all the family’s involved. As members of our families have murdered, other members of our families, and stolen land from them. It is like a doom’s day sentence of language, to get out of hell, one that relies on forgiveness, but not forgetting our at times horrific past. This approach helps failsafe against future forced or coerced loss of land. It was a principle based on a piece of mathematics an Australian soldier did on the synchronisation of fireflies’ flashes, and was popularised by the movie six degrees of separation. I just applied it to our families in OZ and the US when it came to the connections between blood relatives that are aboriginal or indigenous, and the rest of us, instead of social connections as was depicted in the original piece of math.
Although the theft of land and unhonored treaties is without question a horrific tragedy, and for some it is a Rorschach ink blot and not a legal contract, it presents us as in those in the west of all descriptions and spiritualties a means of great opportunity to stifle New World Order colonialist colonization of our shared family land. Regardless of race, if no one tries to politically capitalise on the process of the recognition of our family as a nation, and go outside of genuine good will, it is an utterly profound, legal, and social statement. Essentially it aids countries in the west like Australia and the US. Nations essentially made up of family, a family that includes aboriginal natives and or the indigenous. Like it or not. This legal consideration led me to consider if I could see this benefit as an individual, maybe, think tanks full of psychopaths brighter than me, who are hell bent on the acquisition of our land could too. And thus, we, or at least me, can see a motive for modern day colonialist destabilization of the west, along race, and spirituality lines, one that ends in a process of genocide. This scenario has been publicly debated and raised in a myriad of fashions, on a myriad of platforms, so my interpretation is just and extension of that open discourse. The dark part to the consideration is as far as I can statistically observe, though meta data, is it has resulted in current day murder or genocide, of aboriginal people, and their mixed-race relatives, who are bridges between the different races or family groups of people.
The extermination of woman and that process’s ability to kill nations is unquestionable. The question is not are they trying to kill off huge sections of the West’s population, as that is both a measurable and an observable given, the question is, is it non-discriminatory population control, or is it just straight-out genocide of targeted groups in the west? Meta data leads me to believe it is a statistical driven or targeted genocide. But who started it, and who perpetrates it now. Was this a process of neo feminism or woman’s science, to exterminate the uteruses, ovaries, and fallopian tubes of childbearing persons, or as they were historically called woman? Had they, whoever they are, othered people, until a state sanctioned and funded enterprise was created? Producing a sociological statistically driven apparatus to perpetrate genocide. There is no more effective way to terminate a culture than kill off its woman or sterilize them on mass, especially when their numbers are low to begin with. Why sterilize and neuter the woman? Because I presume, they have found out that murdering children is not well looked upon! You don’t have to kill the babies and children if they are not conceived. Sexually transmitted disease, and progressive ideology, have done an amazing job at exterminating female blood lines in the west, a highly ironic event for some feminists to learn, but not for this one to observe. How did I come up with this hypothesis, I extrapolated from Margret Sanger’s work. Margret Sangers work would and has enable mass baby elimination. Later others would extend on her eugenics train of thought in the west, and it would become adult murder as people went down the slippery slope of euthanasia, to the outright murder of healthy adults, via public health care, or a state sponsored system. From her work, she would go onto produce a statistically targeting medical industrial complex apparatus, that would extinguish or kill millions of unborn or not yet conceived foetuses, or as they were historically called babies. Her work was aided with the use of group speak and group think. In what could only be described as a state funded and sanctioned genocidal murder machine. Her ability and desire to exterminate the existence of black foetuses, historically called babies by some, is legendary on the net, and a little look into her motives should leave the hairs on every black, or mixed-race woman, on the planet standing on end. With her revealing in a letter, that and to quote, “We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population..." in a Letter to Dr. Clarence J. Gamble, December 10, 1939, p. 2
How prophetic it was that at 4:48 in the YouTube techno hit, “Burn your village to the ground” by The Halluci Nation, a man says, and to quote, “…they have to kill us, they have to kill us, because they can’t break our spirit…” that man was John Trudell. Here is a link to that YouTube music video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNi__fnadTM (Please note, there are graphic depictions of genocide, or mass murder shown, and it can be argued that those images should be viewed by adults only, or at least by a mature audience under supervision, and with wise adult guidance). When I first heard him say this, I was genuinely shocked, but on consideration, and with a little look at what happened to the indigenous around the world… I believe he had full, and firsthand knowledge, of the situation at hand. Looking at what Margeret Sanger had planned for black Americans, I can only concur with Trudell. And after a few months of letting it sink in, I had concluded my contemplation on what he had said, and, although still being shocked or confronted by his words, what he said I concluded in his short sentence, was utterly, and profoundly, true.
I like to do extrapolations both mathematical, and all manner of types of correlation and causations within my capabilities, because they generate subsequent considerations of interest in me. To trigger a few people, I do my own research. When I come across things that interest me, and I become inquisitive about things I deem as important, I look further. I had a look at what Mr Trudell said and its application and or implications to other groups of Americans, Black and White. It seemed almost like a dogma being applied currently on many fronts for all Americans, regardless of race, due to their resilience and adaptability. It had been tried before openly, and in wide open public view on the indigenous Americans and the black Americans. Whoever they are, seems to have just kept on going, finding new methods, and new groups, to apply genocide to, for the process to continue. That process is measurable, and identifiable genocide.
Part of the webster definition of what is an American, is and to quote “...a native or inhabitant of North America or South America…”. For me at least the key word is native, and the question it raises in me, is when and who does this apply to, or where does it start and end? Is it all Americans? I have written about writing from a distance about America in isolation here in Australia, and how sometimes it is beneficial. I can write in hindsight, unincumbered by the pressure to respond instantly to events, and it is especially advantages when contemplating the differences and similarities between Australia and the US. I concur and extend on John Trudell, the American, and or, its native or American spirit cannot be exterminated, someone is going to have to kill the owners of it, if they want to overthrow America. So, they, whoever they are, are giving it a good shot. Mr Trudell nailed it. Whoever is perpetrating genocide in the west and killing off Americans or “…we the people… “is doing it, because their spirit cannot be quashed. It should be noted that they are not discriminating on race now, when it comes to who they kill, as they are now killing blacks, whites, and natives, in what appears to be a demographically selective process. Boy have they been busy and gotten to work.
Previously the killing of the west could not be accomplished externally, so lest all thank the American military industrial complex for that. It could only be destroyed from within, but that is not the case anymore. How do they exterminate the people of the Americas, North and South. Via their own hands and words. The elephant in the room is, who could now move Americans against Americans and who are they? It is not a question of if it is happening, it is a question of who is doing it, and how are they manipulating the people, as in “…we the people…”, to be complicit, in such a diabolical series of events. A series of events, that have ended, and end, in Americans murdering other Americans. And where on further observation in the west, westerners now murder each other, for their own perceived safety and good?
Is Germ warfare being used on our own people? It is a horrible question, but I am going to ask it anyway. And I am going to have a look at the water shed moment of the 60s sexual revolution. The 60s saw the spread of enough VD to kill millions of US and western children or babies before they were born regardless of race. Yes, I just approached the where does life begin paradigm, or the conundrum, and found genocide. Ironically it is not murder under the now common definitions of group think, and group speak. Genocide has been rebranded as sexual liberation and not statistical sterilization, ending, and or, enabling genocide. Doubly ironic, is it effected the intellectuals mostly, in the summer of love. Latter it would spread through their use of drugs and the indoctrination of their children into an orgy of mass fornication. The whole process was aided by drugs that promoted hyper sexualization of the liberal left. From there it was a domino effect to the greater number, but less educated, and more religious, lower socioeconomic groups, essentially encompassing “…we the people…” Raising the question, who needs smallpox infested blankets to murder the Americans regardless of their race, when you can get them to hump themselves into a disease riddled oblivion? Martin Niemöller is utterly quotable in this instance, and a read of his most prophetic statement or poem can be a source of inspiration and insight for many, in my belief. It leaves you asking the question who are they, or who were they? It was a question posed by this very wise man, and interestingly he never directly says who they are.
This is his poem.
First, they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Looking at the American indigenous. First, they came for the warriors regardless of colour creed or denomination, taking their guns. They then came for the religious or spiritual people and tried to exterminate those religious or spiritual people. They tried in vain to destroy their beliefs and teachings. Then they went after the woman and children. When that wasn’t aloud, they then got the woman and children to go after themselves, in an act of induced insanity. Like Martin Niemöller, I cannot identify the instigators, but I can see their effect. To insert some black humour, and in general I was never a fan of the show, this seen in the Simpsons, can be viewed www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFCgz959ARY. Just imagine, visualize, think, or insert different groups of Americans into the Simpsons family’s seats. Kind of like the Milgram experiment, on satirical steroids. Here is a wiki link to a description of the Milgram experiment en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_ It was an experiment where people were duped into believing they were doing good when they were not. The university system may not have looked at this paper in a long while or forgotten it. But I have not forgotten the principle once it was introduced to me. Ironically the universities may have felt immune or above the results of the experiment. But they have become the perpetrators, or vector, for the very thing they said they were there to stop, ie. harm.
We can list, or go through massacre, after massacre, of people during the colonization of the Americas, but I will not. Instead, I will take a closer look at a small number of murdered people. At university in a subject dedicated to the topic of genocide, I looked at and wept, at the mass murder of my family, by other members of my family. The part that made me weep was the consideration of mathematics and physics related to the event, and the consideration that every life is of immeasurable and unquantifiable value. The consideration was done via the extended theorisation and analysis of a small number. I wept off and on for days at what I saw, as I came to grips with what had happened to my family, but despite that I will take another look here too.
By looking at what appears to be a small number of women and children that were wounded, but then died of their injuries. These woman and children were seen as subhuman, but were not, they were very human. Just what happened to them was inhuman. Those people are the 47 woman and children that died of their wounds during the massacre at Wounded Knee. Consideration of these woman and children produces some shocking and chilling considerations in maths, as to how many people their families would have produced today. I will qualify my statement before going on, by saying when I use the words small number, that it is in no way a reflection of the cost, suffering, and misery their slaughter would have caused. And I hope to show that that, relatively small number when amplified over time produces a horrific number, that no human should feel emotionally immune or isolated from. When considering this number, I looked at Shindler. Shindler was a German industrialist, here is a link to the wiki page, for the movie that immortalised him in the west, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler%27s_List Shindler had saved about 1200 jews from the German gas chambers of world war two, and today their descendants are in the order of 7000. With exponential population growth this number, and all things not considered, this relatively small number, should become a larger number over time with more babies. That number will or should increase exponentially to a point. And the mathematics of the dead and their progeny when time is considered infinite becomes a very large number. It is a flawed, and highly simplistic isolated theoretical look, at the growth of a population of people. But the consideration of large numbers can help a person, get a grasp of the potential magnitude, of an event, or events. A small number of humans in this case can become a large number over time.
Despite these acts of genocide being a war crime, that is commemorated for all to see, people have recently in the west committed two things on mass. One, the error in thought that it would not happen again, let alone in the west. And two, the error in hubris that it could not happen to them, and or, that they would be the perpetrators of that genocide. But it has happened on both counts with modern techniques. How did it happen so fast? The west has now become tribal under university or higher education teaching, and or the dogma, spread by the influence, of the pseudo intellectual left. The group taught on mass not to other, now others everyone they can. They the left, left us all wide open for a blindside of colonial techniques to be used on us, and thus they let it spread to the greater community, or “…we the people…” What causes it was selective outrage on genocide and selective outrage on sex-based abuses. It was compounded by the ignorance of not being able to see, that foreign actors would profit or capitalize from that selective outrage. As it turned out by pitting citizen against citizen, apparently, “…we the people of the west where not people…” “…with unalienable rights...” we were not “…one nation…” of “…indivisible…” people, we were not people “…with liberty and justice for all…”.” We the people” of western nations turned out instead to be a rabble. But I can only hope it is at least hopefully, for a transient period.
Part of the old tried and true processes of colonialism is othering. Essentially 101 of colonialism. To enable othering, first you find the tribes that had a history of conflict between each other. The example of wounded knee comes back into play in the discussion of othering. As not to be left out are serval relevant sociological points on othering can be found in the above incident at Wounded Knee. One is that people can be conditioned to consider some groups of people to be of so little value that you can murder them on mass, the other is that these people can be conditioned to kill woman and children in cold blood, then take their photos so as to celebrate the incident, as if what they had did was something wonderful. The MO, or modus operandi, of othering a person or group to murder was and is to stoke that fire, or conflict, between groups or tribes, give them weapons to fight each other, but not enough power to be independent. The result is thus, get the tribes to murder each other, while you sit by and profit from that murder. Essentially the first rule of colonial conquest as taught in class 101 of colonialism at university. Furthermore, get them to divulge secrets about the other tribes, so that those secrets, could be capitalized on, when it came to their subjugation, or murder. This type of selective outrage or outright genocidal hypocrisy generated by othering was very observable in the me to movement when it comes to their hypocrisy in the treatment of indigenous woman and the treatment of Judaeo Christian children or woman. Later it spread or come from the UN or United Nations. They othered what could essentially be described as white men in an indiscriminate, blatant contradiction empowered by absolute contempt for due process, a fundamental of the law. Harvey Weinstein sexualized female adults with psychological manipulation and went to jail for it, but the left or the me to movement seem to be silent when it comes to sexualization of children, and the manipulation of those children into performing sex acts by the pseudo intellectual left, for their social profit. In an almost parallel of Weinstein, they the left substituted adult woman for children and they did it on mass. It appears some females and children are worth more than others, and we are not all created equal before the law, or to be precise, at least under the new leftist pseudo morality.
They the leftists then applied themselves against the nations that they should have been there to protect, the ones that had subsidised or funded their educations, or indoctrination. Colonialism continues in different forms, through divide and conquer, and the lies used to achieve it are aided by psychological manipulation. Mark Twain wrote and to quote "The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance. ... How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again!" according to my copilot.
Another case I found of great interest was the disappearance of, or the outright murder, or worse of 174 Canadian indigenous women, who have just vanished into thin air. It got some air play but didn’t seem to draw much worldwide scrutiny and even less critical thought from the international white left and right, especially when compared to other more recent but smaller white atheist tragedies, like the misgendering of children. All they the left seemed to do, was politized the horror story for media exploitation, while doing nothing, not to mention not report their potential proactive role in the process, that caused those women to be vanished into thin air. It did not end there as running parallel to these disappearances was the political move by the Canadian left to reintroduced and rebirth past atrocities from Canadian history. How did they do it? They did it with the aid of the modern-day arts humanity’s faculty. Somehow, despite all the waffling talk, and the best efforts of everyone, they managed to reconstruct the effects and processes of Canadian residential schools.
Like in Macbeth, the bloody hands cannot be washed clean, and it just seems to keep on cascading further out of control, and deeper into madness. We have an expression here in Australia and it is called a shit stain, in this case the abuse of woman and children is an utter shit stain on humanity that will and would not go away. Canada should not feel alone as here in the land of OZ, non-Christian atheists have used the public school system as indoctrination centres, or daytime social re-education camps for children. Just like the residential schools where the objective was to take the Indian out of the Indian, or to commit cultural genocide. The new school curriculum was designed here in Australia and the west to strip the Christians of the last vestiges of their religion or spirituality. It ended the same way as it did when the aboriginal protectorate board here in Australia took mixed race children from their parents and stripped them of any chance of their traditional teachings. People ended up hiding their children in bushes, so they were not taken away from their parents and or families. Or in the modern-day iteration of a repeat of history, they the persecuted would try to home school their children to protect and hide them from cultural and spiritual genocide.
The old Australian aboriginal protectorate board was responsible for the sexual farming out of some female children to some white Australians as domestic servants. And ironically the new age new world order atheists, would sexualize children and indoctrinate them on mass, in a process of state sanctioned and legally enforced grooming. A sexualization of children, that what would unfortunately leave the Australian numbers of raped indigenous girls used for sexual gratification in the homes that were meant to protect them to shame. Moving back to Canada, Despite or possibly outright because of it, it seems like residential schools were used as a smoke screen for the left, as they practiced and reintroduce the process of state sanctioned child obduction, and cultural genocide for selected white and black Canadians. Part of that process was to try to reengineer Canadian’s children on the biochemical level, manipulate their psychology and or disfigure them with scalpels. It was and is a process that leaves the promises of not repeating the residential school’s horrific results, to an utter shameless lie. The state turned into Jack the ripper, and Dr Frankenstein in the space of less than one generation, with social sciences that had taken generations to build and apply. While the public or “…we the people…” became the mob chasing all of the above, with torches into the night. It was all achieved, as the leaders of democratic countries, and a republic, did not obey the wills of their people, or the new age plebians, as some would have you believe they are. Fundamental human rights of children, and woman, to be protected from harm’s way, where “Gone with the Wind”, in a pollical battle for a populist win at the ballot box.
The left in its zealot like zeal to do good, or at least that is what they are saying they are consciously doing “…pathed a way to hell, with good intentions….” (to quote a Portuguese proverb) for millions of families. With what have been called good intentions, members of the government and the supposed higher educated or intellectual classes once again used the schools to do it. No Catholics required it seems this time. In fact, in total irony of the media propagated and promoted big government narrative, Catholics where and are being arrested for trying to stop the travesty. So, if it cannot be blamed on the Catholics this time, what or who is the common denominator? And what is the common objective for those adding and abetting the genocide. The common objective was as far as I can see is unaccountable murder, and the desire for unaccountable control. And to achieve that power grab it was aided and abetted via university or peer approved definitions of words. It enabled them to butcher little kids with blades, and sterilizing many with puberty blockers, under state encourage and enforced programs, created by the leftist state. They enforced it by legal orders. But what was the motive? Do they even know? How does this relate to a discussion on the genocide of woman? Well, if you can’t sterilize or murder the mother, you may as well sterilize her kids under state sanction and legal order, it appears?
Via university definitions of language, the atrocities didn’t end there. In a populist echo chamber the pseudointellectual left at universities worked out not just how to redefine a baby as an embryo up to full term, but they also worked out how to sell it with propaganda, in a fallacy of logic. This sale of a utopian existence for woman that encapsulated a childless, partnerless, future for millions, was like selling KFC shares to chickens in battery pens, (to verbally adapt one of the funniest Facebook memes I have ever seen). Whoever did it deserve a Nobel prize in advertising. Or at least a person of the year picture on the front of Time magazine. With VD being left untreated and or uncured in many cases, woman where both sterilized and neutered in a process that could be easily described as nothing other than genocide with no one to be held accountable, but the woman themselves. Some on the right blamed the women’s lax morals but they were wrong. It had been promoted and indoctrinated by the groups that withheld treatment or cure to those women. Although baby murder may be permitted on a word technicality, as far as I know genocide of blood lines and cultures are not. And to be noted the technicality that enabled the execution of both events via a few degrees of separation was the use of group think and group speak.
Canada produces a gold mine of inquiry, into the processes of state sanctioned genocide, and it is a very interesting case study when looking at the legislation for the euthanasia of the poor, or the people that had been selectively made poor by them, the leftist Canadian government. Who would question the ability of the left after that, to not offer euthanasia for women suffering depression for their childless, partnerless, existences. All the while they the pseudo intellectual left and their allies of diverse descriptions, perpetrated cultural genocide on Christianity and Christians. Where did or do they perpetrate it? The process occurs globally or all over the world, but it gets very little mainstream media air play. Not ironically, the leftists don’t block streets for months in unison with Christians, to protest mass murder, that is almost unmentionable outside of Christian chat pages. Chat pages now deemed as Christian nationalist hot beds of anti-democratic gatherings. Gatherings said to be against the state, by some in the pseudo leftist media, and weaponised law enforcement agencies.
I have a shirt that says “…if the government says you don’t need a gun, you need a gun!!!”. It had an American Indian man on it. I presume it was in reference to the slaughter of disarmed Aboriginal Americans murdered in cold blood by government forces, on their own land, once they had been disarmed. For me it is a very pro-American constitution or bill of rights statement. The shirt is a few sizes too big as I ordered an American size from here in Oz, so it looks like a skirt on me. I never wear it much if at all because of that. Despite that, I think it is very profound. Now it seems that if the government and pseudo left wing media, say, you should not have a media outlet, I would argue, to paraphrase my shirt, you need a media outlet. And you need them both for the same reason, your protection. Not so ironically both things are covered for in the American bill of rights. They were deemed so important that they the founding non birthing people, or as they were historically known the founding fathers, put them number one and two.
It appears that aboriginal Canadians and Christians now have something in common, and it is their attempted genocide. Attempted genocide of both of their blood lines and of their cultures. With someone or something instigating that process and sitting outside of the murderous anarchy. The left falls silent when it comes to the cultural and actual genetic genocide of Christians on a global scale. Why? Isn’t all life worth saving? Or is it that only the left, and the lefts supposed allies are worthy of life, and a self-determined existence, determined by the left. Apparently, all life is not worth saving, and we don’t all have “…unalienable rights…”
The numbers show the slow but sure death or stagnation of western populations, and a rapid genocide of its culture. But they are not alone, it had been perpetrated on the natives first, now it is applied to all north Americans, and to varying degrees most countries in the West. Where is the outcry from other feminists against the sterilization of millions of women and girls liberated of their sexual constraints? Where is the outcry for woman and girls of all races, denominations, and demographics in the west by the left? Why are these deaths of unborn children or babies not seen to be of the same value as colonized Americans or the murdered indigenous, by the left? Or hideously not ironic, in this inquiry, it can be asked, are they all considered on the same subhuman level by some? After having their woman murdered, their children stolen, sexualized, groomed, raped, and sterilized what will be the response of” …we the people...”???
They the left don’t seem to like, or use guns very much, as they I presume, know they are outnumbered on that front, well for the moment at least. Like any good army in that situation, they have chosen to out flank their opponents. Their opponents the constitutionalists, and their pesky second amendment, where outflanked by the left abusing the first amendment on mass. Not satisfied there, and enamoured by a blitzkrieg of success, they tried, or are trying it appears to reword, rewrite, or destroy the whole document, that has protected their families for several centuries. That document is the American constitution. The pseudo intellectual left has been involved at every point. They have think tanks, think tanks where they weaponize their own words, then ironically call others words violence. It is like a gorilla action, or pincer movement on the first amendment. Words that are used to attack it, the constitution, are part of language constructs, produced for the logic gating of people. They the left are involved in inciting violence with words, (as words are not violence per say), then said they were using them to create peace… They produced language constructs that logic gated people into doing things that are not in their favour. The right where duped or out flanked when they argued words where not violence, forgetting to add, that they can incite violence. They the intellectual left, logic gated millions of women into childlessness, and neutered them to boot, with the statistical outcomes via their use of language, at universities. Language recited verbatim by the reporters who did not report, and a mainstream media, that did not apply critical thought to what they were saying. Like cattle they were led to the slaughter for following the lefts new age new world order mantras.
It leaves the question as to who is prompting these people of the left to press the electric shocker until the person or peoples they are meant to be helping die? Or to be more literal and not use an analogy, based on the Milgram experiment, who prompts these people to commit genocide, on mass, for the perceived greater good? Who gets these people to commit Hara-kiri before the idol of the left. And why cannot they see what they are doing? Like good Zero pilots in a kamikaze act for the empire, the left sacrifice millions of woman’s breeding power, for a shadow emperor that is nowhere to be seen. There cannot be to many degrees of separation between the instigators and the perpetrators. So, who are they? Why is the death or nonexistence of so many babies, or children, caused by the neutering and or murder of their mothers, not up for constant public debate and scrutiny. Maybe because the left will not be critical of itself, as it can do no wrong. These considerations are not far right-wing propaganda, they are the very thing that the left use as mantras for their group speak and group think, but don’t do. Where is their commitment to a universal stance against genocide, that isn’t a selective biased application, or literally a front to commit the very act itself? Many white North Americans may have forgotten something, that something, is they are part of nations, and those nations help make up the people of the Americas.
How does the current or past genocide help any American? And as a feminist I must ask openly are American and the wests females under attack regardless of race? Are they weeding out the intellectuals first, with VD and old age childlessness, as their ovaries shrivel up? These are rhetorical questions. And it must be noted that I once said that the only people who can bring down an American president are the American people, and I latter extrapolated that the same could be said for its society. And to leave with yet another set of questions as always. Who, or what, stokes these tragedies to occur, and or, who is profiting from these current day colonialist like internal conflicts in the West?
Washed out from the top of Elliott river
after heavy rain and flash flooding.
Coonarr beach,after the rain.
200 mm in a couple of hours
early Thursday morning.
In Queensland, it is illegal to have tilapia in your possession. This includes eating them. The maximum penalty for possession is $200,000.
Tilapia were introduced into Australia in the 1970s as ornamental fish and are now a major threat to Australia's native biodiversity. ... Therefore, releasing living or dead fish into waterways can cause new infestations. Tilapia is a restricted noxious fish under the Biosecurity Act 2014.10 Aug 2021
SlidersSunday
Native to China, India and Nepal, yellow ginger is a perennial plant with large leaves and fragrant yellow flowers. Yellow ginger can out-compete native plants and is a major weed in a number of countries, including New Zealand and Hawaii.
Yellow ginger's popularity as a garden plant increases the risk of it spreading in Queensland.
Yellow ginger is a restricted invasive plant under the Biosecurity Act 2014.
This week we have seen our first European Wasps in our garden. It is a sad day!
"Forty years ago an English entomologist visiting Western Australia spotted a European wasp when it landed on a scone he was about to eat.
He reported it and ever since the state's Department of Agriculture and Food (DAFWA) has been waging war on this declared pest, whose numbers have risen alarmingly in recent years." www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-23/wa-battles-to-hold-off-eur...
More information: www.agric.wa.gov.au/biosecurity-biosecurity-quarantineeur...
Matthew McKnight, General Manager, Biosecurity, Ginkgo Bioworks
Kira Radinsky, CEO and Chief Technology Officer, Diagnostic Robotics
Matthew Stoudt, Co-Founder and CEO, AppliedVR
Richard Sandler, Executive Vice President, Milken Family Foundation; Partner, Law Offices of Maron & Sandler
Ryan Petersen, CEO, Flexport
Insect 10mm on sand. Jumped 30cm.
Photo: Fred
ID: Fulgoromo Fulgoromo thanks.
Biosecurity Collections, Orange Orange Agricultural Institute
Apparently the pride of the Turks Poultry (Foxton) fleet viewed sporting its personalised CRNFED plate signifying “Turks corn-fed chicken”, snapped during a drop off at New World Levin on Tuesday, 9 August 2016.
Plates History:
CRNFED - 14 May 2015
JBC438 - 7 April 2015
Turk's barn-raised chickens are extraordinary.
In line with the finest European traditions, Turk's chickens are corn-fed. They have tapped this centuries old secret to produce healthy chickens with delicious flavour....You first see that from their golden skin, reflecting all the goodness of sun-ripened corn.
NEW FREE RANGE SHEDS PRODUCE 30,000 CHICKENS A WEEK NEAR FOXTON
19 January 2016
By JILL GALLOWAY
Ron Turk is the managing director of Turks Poultry based in Foxton, with chicken sheds in Himatangi.
Ron Turk would like to bust a few chicken myths.
Myth buster number one: There are no hormones in New Zealand chicken and there hasn't been for more than 40 years, he says.
He doesn't know if hormones are used in other counties.
The second myth that New Zealand meat chickens are raised in cages is also untrue. They have never been raised in cages.
Day old chicks arrive and grow for up to 42 days before they are processed
Contrary to popular belief, chickens don't like bright sunshine, strong winds or conditions which are too cold.
Turk should know what he's talking about. He is part owner with the Pedison and Stella families of seven new free-range sheds producing 30,000 chickens a week. The name of the enterprise is Le Poulet Fabuleux, which translated means "fabulous chicken".
There are 30,000 chickens in each shed.
Day old chicks arrive and grow for up to 42 days before they are processed. Between the six growing weeks a week is reserved for cleaning the shed. The rotation between seven sheds meand each week a shed of 30,000 chickens is sent to the market. During that time food and water is available on demand.
The chickens are taken to a processing plant in Foxton. About 90 per cent of them are sold fresh with the remainder frozen and they are sold to supermarket and other stores, restaurants or exported to Asia.
The chickens have the option to go outside too.
The shed looks like new after been cleaned. The new chicks are put in one half of the shed which has been heated to 32 degrees which is the temperature under a mother hen.
"We reduce it half a degree a day. We give them the whole shed at day seven."
He says Caldow Builders began building the first shed 14 months ago with another shed built every nine weeks until the last one was completed just before Christmas.
Some chicken runs have yet to be completed. The sheds are 140 metres long and 16m wide (2240sq metres).
Each shed has a concrete floor and a steel frame and its walls and roof are made of insulation panels. The shed has large shutters to release heat and large pop holes for the birds to roam outside in the grass runs once they are well feathered at about 19 days old.
"The chickens go outside early in the morning, they like cloudy days. They don't like bright sunshine and will go inside, they are scared of being a meal for a hawk so we put netting over their run which also cuts the brightness of the sun. We are still trying ways to encourage more birds further out from the shed."
Turk is a man who is happy to show people the farm. There is no secret squirrel stuff at the new sheds.
He wants people to know how it all works.
"If you are not proud of what you do, then you shouldn't do it".
Computers in each shed control the lights, feeding and temperature and shows visitors on site all the information they need to know to grow good healthy chickens, Turk says.
"The breed of chicken is cobb and there are males and females. Genetic selection to produce birds with more breast meat led to some leg problems which was quickly addressed that now we have very little leg issues."
Turk says they like the growing farms to be close to the processing plant so the chickens don't have to travel far. The furthest farm is 35 minutes away, and Turk says he wouldn't want the distance any further.
Biosecurity and chicken health are a high priority at the operation, as is animal welfare.
Entering any shed requires a sanitised foot bath and then there is a line which can only be crossed by people wearing overalls, clean gumboots and a hairnet and who have sterilised their hands.
"Our farms operate well above the industry standards," says Turk.
He has only good things to say about Horizons Regional Council and Horowhenua District Council which have both been helpful and supportive. The Ministry of Primary Industries audits all New Zealand chicken farms.
The chicken operation is the major employer in the Horowhenua town.
"This new farm has added an extra 30 jobs at Turks Poultry in Foxton," says Turk.
Turk considers himself a logical type of guy and initially thought all people would be much the same. After undergoing some training including personality profiling he has a better appreciation of the differences between people.
Four years and a lot of training later, he says the company is a different and better place.
Turk is strong on governance with a board of directors made up of family and two independent directors, one who is the chairman.
"Training is high in the list of priorities on all levels of the company. This helps team members not only at work but also in their personal life."
He is proud of the business-focussed Foxton operation and providing jobs for people in the area.
A bit more about Ron Turk.
Ron Turk is the managing director of Turk's Poultry Farm Ltd.
Turks has 210 people employed. There are IT people, compliance (quality) people, truck drivers, engineers, and many others.
They process 25000 birds a day, and add value with smoked chicken, chicken sausages and lots more.
About 500 tonnes of chicken feed is made and consumed a week. Part of that mix uses 14,000 tonne of local maize a year.
Ron Turk says chickens grow fast with good weight gain and few leg problems. New Zealand has the best health status for chicken growing in the world, he says. Day old chicks arrive and grow for up to 42 days before they are processed
The chickens are sold mainly in the North Island. It is also exporting to Japan and other countries. - Stuff
TURK'S POULTRY OPERATIONAL HISTORY
Turk’s Poultry Farm Ltd is a family owned and operated poultry production and processing unit that is vertically integrated from rearing to sales and dispatch of poultry products. The business currently employs 150 staff at 5 locations from Auckland to Foxton and has been operating in the Kapiti-Horowhenua district since 1966 as an Egg producer and since 1996 as a broiler chicken production unit.
HistoryTurks Poultry was founded by Mr John Turk (Snr) with his original business plan. With the support of his wife, family and dedicated staff, hard work and commitment to its ideals it has grown into the business and staff structure that it is today. Turks Poultry Farm Ltd now deals in products and services that include Eggs, Poultry Products, Small Goods, and an Engineering Firm.
This diverse and challenging range of products and services is still in the hands of the family and as such, is one of the few 100% New Zealand owned and operated poultry operations.
Turk’s market is predominately in the North Island with the main site in Foxton and a depot in Auckland.
Turk’s Poultry has an excellent working relationship with a diverse group of suppliers who are involved in the business from raising the chickens and grain through contract growing, to supply of packaging and parts and machinery.
A bit out of the ordinary aside from your general waste disposal and processing is the very stringent quarantine (aka biosecurity) waste sector. This particular facility at Revesby in Sydney’s western suburbs has been around for decades! It was initially constructed by Dumpex which held the Sydney airport contract, with the company later bought out by Transpacific, until SITA won the airport contract and took over operation of Revesby, complementing their then existing and now former quarantine operation at Camellia. With what I know about quarantine waste in Australia, the two handling options involve either deep burial or thermal treatment. In the case of Revesby here, the thermal process is performed through the utilisation of autoclaves, which essentially steams the waste material under pressure at a minimum temperature for a required minimum duration to effectively eradicate any potentially harmful pathogens. In this double photo we see the receival area in the left background, with the container loading bays to the right of the Volvo picker and a small shredder for bulky dry waste items. You also get a look at the containers which go into the autoclaves, the forklifts which move the containers around and of course you see the autoclaves themselves as the beating heart of the place. You may notice a big contrast between the autoclaves, with the very shiny fresh one on the left being brand new and unused at the time of photo, replacing the previous one which blew up.
Since the outbreak of coronavirus, there has been considerable discussion on the origin of the causative virus, SARS-CoV-2. A new study by The Scripps Research Institute based on genome sequence data from SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses hasn’t found any evidence that the virus was made in a laboratory or otherwise engineered.
For this study, scientists compared the available genome sequence data for known coronavirus strains. They firmly determined that SARS-CoV-2 originated through natural processes.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that can cause illnesses ranging widely in severity. SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43, and 229E are associated with mild symptoms.
The first known severe illness caused by a coronavirus emerged with the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic in China. A second severe disease outbreak began in 2012 in Saudi Arabia with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
On December 31 of last year, Chinese authorities cautioned the World Health Organization of an outbreak of a novel strain of coronavirus causing severe illness, which was accordingly named SARS-CoV-2. As of February 20, 2020, about 167,500 COVID-19 cases have been documented, albeit a lot progressively mild cases have likely gone undiagnosed. The virus has killed more than 6,600 people.
Shortly after the outbreak, Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of SARS-CoV-2 and made the data available to scientists worldwide. The data suggests that Chinese authorities rapidly detected the epidemic and that the number of COVID-19 cases has been increasing because of human to the human transmission after a single introduction into the human population.
Scientists in this study used this sequencing data to explore the origins and evolution of SARS-CoV-2 by focusing in on several tell-tale features of the virus.
Scientists analyzed the genetic template for spike proteins, armatures on the outside of the virus that it uses to grab and penetrate the external wall of human and animal cells. More specifically, they focused on two essential features of the spike protein: the receptor-binding domain (RBD), a kind of grappling hook that grips onto host cells, and the cleavage site, a molecular can opener that allows the virus to crack open and enter host cells.
Scientists found that the RBD part of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins had evolved to viably target a molecular feature outwardly of human cells called ACE2, a receptor involved in regulating blood pressure. The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein was so powerful at binding the human cells.
This proof for natural evolution was upheld by data on SARS-CoV-2’s backbone—its overall molecular structure. On the off chance that somebody was trying to build a new coronavirus as a pathogen, they would have developed it from the foundation of the virus known to cause illness. In any case, the scientists found that the SARS-CoV-2 backbone varied significantly from those of definitely known coronaviruses and, for the most part, looked like related viruses found in bats and pangolins.
Kristian Andersen, Ph.D., an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research, said, “These two features of the virus, the mutations in the RBD portion of the spike protein and its distinct backbone, rule out laboratory manipulation as a potential origin for SARS-CoV-2.”
Josie Golding, Ph.D., epidemics lead at UK-based Wellcome Trust, said, “The findings are “crucially important to bring an evidence-based view to the rumors that have been circulating about the origins of the virus (SARS-CoV-2) causing COVID-19.”
www.techexplorist.com/covid-19-coronavirus-epidemic-natur...
Journal Reference:
Correspondence
Published: 17 March 2020
The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2
Kristian G. Andersen, Andrew Rambaut, W. Ian Lipkin, Edward C. Holmes & Robert F. Garry
Nature Medicine (2020)Cite this article
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To the Editor — Since the first reports of novel pneumonia (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei province, China1,2, there has been considerable discussion on the origin of the causative virus, SARS-CoV-23 (also referred to as HCoV-19)4. Infections with SARS-CoV-2 are now widespread, and as of 11 March 2020, 121,564 cases have been confirmed in more than 110 countries, with 4,373 deaths5.
SARS-CoV-2 is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans; SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 can cause severe disease, whereas HKU1, NL63, OC43 and 229E are associated with mild symptoms6. Here we review what can be deduced about the origin of SARS-CoV-2 from comparative analysis of genomic data. We offer a perspective on the notable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome and discuss scenarios by which they could have arisen. Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus.
Notable features of the SARS-CoV-2 genome
Our comparison of alpha- and betacoronaviruses identifies two notable genomic features of SARS-CoV-2: (i) on the basis of structural studies7,8,9 and biochemical experiments1,9,10, SARS-CoV-2 appears to be optimized for binding to the human receptor ACE2; and (ii) the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 has a functional polybasic (furin) cleavage site at the S1–S2 boundary through the insertion of 12 nucleotides8, which additionally led to the predicted acquisition of three O-linked glycans around the site.
1. Mutations in the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2
The receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike protein is the most variable part of the coronavirus genome1,2. Six RBD amino acids have been shown to be critical for binding to ACE2 receptors and for determining the host range of SARS-CoV-like viruses7. With coordinates based on SARS-CoV, they are Y442, L472, N479, D480, T487 and Y4911, which correspond to L455, F486, Q493, S494, N501 and Y505 in SARS-CoV-27. Five of these six residues differ between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV (Fig. 1a). On the basis of structural studies7,8,9 and biochemical experiments1,9,10, SARS-CoV-2 seems to have an RBD that binds with high affinity to ACE2 from humans, ferrets, cats and other species with high receptor homology7.
Fig. 1: Features of the spike protein in human SARS-CoV-2 and related coronaviruses.
figure1
a, Mutations in contact residues of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (red bar at top) was aligned against the most closely related SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses and SARS-CoV itself. Key residues in the spike protein that make contact to the ACE2 receptor are marked with blue boxes in both SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses, including SARS-CoV (Urbani strain). b, Acquisition of polybasic cleavage site and O-linked glycans. Both the polybasic cleavage site and the three adjacent predicted O-linked glycans are unique to SARS-CoV-2 and were not previously seen in lineage B betacoronaviruses. Sequences shown are from NCBI GenBank, accession codes MN908947, MN996532, AY278741, KY417146 and MK211376. The pangolin coronavirus sequences are a consensus generated from SRR10168377 and SRR10168378 (NCBI BioProject PRJNA573298)29,30.
Full size image
While the analyses above suggest that SARS-CoV-2 may bind human ACE2 with high affinity, computational analyses predict that the interaction is not ideal7 and that the RBD sequence is different from those shown in SARS-CoV to be optimal for receptor binding7,11. Thus, the high-affinity binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to human ACE2 is most likely the result of natural selection on a human or human-like ACE2 that permits another optimal binding solution to arise. This is strong evidence that SARS-CoV-2 is not the product of purposeful manipulation.
2. Polybasic furin cleavage site and O-linked glycans
The second notable feature of SARS-CoV-2 is a polybasic cleavage site (RRAR) at the junction of S1 and S2, the two subunits of the spike8 (Fig. 1b). This allows effective cleavage by furin and other proteases and has a role in determining viral infectivity and host range12. In addition, a leading proline is also inserted at this site in SARS-CoV-2; thus, the inserted sequence is PRRA (Fig. 1b). The turn created by the proline is predicted to result in the addition of O-linked glycans to S673, T678 and S686, which flank the cleavage site and are unique to SARS-CoV-2 (Fig. 1b). Polybasic cleavage sites have not been observed in related ‘lineage B’ betacoronaviruses, although other human betacoronaviruses, including HKU1 (lineage A), have those sites and predicted O-linked glycans13. Given the level of genetic variation in the spike, it is likely that SARS-CoV-2-like viruses with partial or full polybasic cleavage sites will be discovered in other species.
The functional consequence of the polybasic cleavage site in SARS-CoV-2 is unknown, and it will be important to determine its impact on transmissibility and pathogenesis in animal models. Experiments with SARS-CoV have shown that insertion of a furin cleavage site at the S1–S2 junction enhances cell–cell fusion without affecting viral entry14. In addition, efficient cleavage of the MERS-CoV spike enables MERS-like coronaviruses from bats to infect human cells15. In avian influenza viruses, rapid replication and transmission in highly dense chicken populations selects for the acquisition of polybasic cleavage sites in the hemagglutinin (HA) protein16, which serves a function similar to that of the coronavirus spike protein. Acquisition of polybasic cleavage sites in HA, by insertion or recombination, converts low-pathogenicity avian influenza viruses into highly pathogenic forms16. The acquisition of polybasic cleavage sites by HA has also been observed after repeated passage in cell culture or through animals17.
The function of the predicted O-linked glycans is unclear, but they could create a ‘mucin-like domain’ that shields epitopes or key residues on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein18. Several viruses utilize mucin-like domains as glycan shields involved immunoevasion18. Although prediction of O-linked glycosylation is robust, experimental studies are needed to determine if these sites are used in SARS-CoV-2.
Theories of SARS-CoV-2 origins
It is improbable that SARS-CoV-2 emerged through laboratory manipulation of a related SARS-CoV-like coronavirus. As noted above, the RBD of SARS-CoV-2 is optimized for binding to human ACE2 with an efficient solution different from those previously predicted7,11. Furthermore, if genetic manipulation had been performed, one of the several reverse-genetic systems available for betacoronaviruses would probably have been used19. However, the genetic data irrefutably show that SARS-CoV-2 is not derived from any previously used virus backbone20. Instead, we propose two scenarios that can plausibly explain the origin of SARS-CoV-2: (i) natural selection in an animal host before zoonotic transfer; and (ii) natural selection in humans following zoonotic transfer. We also discuss whether selection during passage could have given rise to SARS-CoV-2.
1. Natural selection in an animal host before zoonotic transfer
As many early cases of COVID-19 were linked to the Huanan market in Wuhan1,2, it is possible that an animal source was present at this location. Given the similarity of SARS-CoV-2 to bat SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses2, it is likely that bats serve as reservoir hosts for its progenitor. Although RaTG13, sampled from a Rhinolophus affinis bat1, is ~96% identical overall to SARS-CoV-2, its spike diverges in the RBD, which suggests that it may not bind efficiently to human ACE27 (Fig. 1a).
Malayan pangolins (Manis javanica) illegally imported into Guangdong province contain coronaviruses similar to SARS-CoV-221. Although the RaTG13 bat virus remains the closest to SARS-CoV-2 across the genome1, some pangolin coronaviruses exhibit strong similarity to SARS-CoV-2 in the RBD, including all six key RBD residues21 (Fig. 1). This clearly shows that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein optimized for binding to human-like ACE2 is the result of natural selection.
Neither the bat betacoronaviruses nor the pangolin betacoronaviruses sampled thus far have polybasic cleavage sites. Although no animal coronavirus has been identified that is sufficiently similar to have served as the direct progenitor of SARS-CoV-2, the diversity of coronaviruses in bats and other species is massively undersampled. Mutations, insertions and deletions can occur near the S1–S2 junction of coronaviruses22, which shows that the polybasic cleavage site can arise by a natural evolutionary process. For a precursor virus to acquire both the polybasic cleavage site and mutations in the spike protein suitable for binding to human ACE2, an animal host would probably have to have a high population density (to allow natural selection to proceed efficiently) and an ACE2-encoding gene that is similar to the human ortholog.
2. Natural selection in humans following zoonotic transfer
It is possible that a progenitor of SARS-CoV-2 jumped into humans, acquiring the genomic features described above through adaptation during undetected human-to-human transmission. Once acquired, these adaptations would enable the pandemic to take off and produce a sufficiently large cluster of cases to trigger the surveillance system that detected it1,2.
All SARS-CoV-2 genomes sequenced so far have the genomic features described above and are thus derived from a common ancestor that had them too. The presence in pangolins of an RBD very similar to that of SARS-CoV-2 means that we can infer this was also probably in the virus that jumped to humans. This leaves the insertion of polybasic cleavage site to occur during human-to-human transmission.
Estimates of the timing of the most recent common ancestor of SARS-CoV-2 made with current sequence data point to emergence of the virus in late November 2019 to early December 201923, compatible with the earliest retrospectively confirmed cases24. Hence, this scenario presumes a period of unrecognized transmission in humans between the initial zoonotic event and the acquisition of the polybasic cleavage site. Sufficient opportunity could have arisen if there had been many prior zoonotic events that produced short chains of human-to-human transmission over an extended period. This is essentially the situation for MERS-CoV, for which all human cases are the result of repeated jumps of the virus from dromedary camels, producing single infections or short transmission chains that eventually resolve, with no adaptation to sustained transmission25.
Studies of banked human samples could provide information on whether such cryptic spread has occurred. Retrospective serological studies could also be informative, and a few such studies have been conducted showing low-level exposures to SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses in certain areas of China26. Critically, however, these studies could not have distinguished whether exposures were due to prior infections with SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 or other SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses. Further serological studies should be conducted to determine the extent of prior human exposure to SARS-CoV-2.
3. Selection during passage
Basic research involving passage of bat SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses in cell culture and/or animal models has been ongoing for many years in biosafety level 2 laboratories across the world27, and there are documented instances of laboratory escapes of SARS-CoV28. We must therefore examine the possibility of an inadvertent laboratory release of SARS-CoV-2.
In theory, it is possible that SARS-CoV-2 acquired RBD mutations (Fig. 1a) during adaptation to passage in cell culture, as has been observed in studies of SARS-CoV11. The finding of SARS-CoV-like coronaviruses from pangolins with nearly identical RBDs, however, provides a much stronger and more parsimonious explanation of how SARS-CoV-2 acquired these via recombination or mutation19.
The acquisition of both the polybasic cleavage site and predicted O-linked glycans also argues against culture-based scenarios. New polybasic cleavage sites have been observed only after prolonged passage of low-pathogenicity avian influenza virus in vitro or in vivo17. Furthermore, a hypothetical generation of SARS-CoV-2 by cell culture or animal passage would have required prior isolation of a progenitor virus with very high genetic similarity, which has not been described. Subsequent generation of a polybasic cleavage site would have then required repeated passage in cell culture or animals with ACE2 receptors similar to those of humans, but such work has also not previously been described. Finally, the generation of the predicted O-linked glycans is also unlikely to have occurred due to cell-culture passage, as such features suggest the involvement of an immune system18.
Conclusions
In the midst of the global COVID-19 public-health emergency, it is reasonable to wonder why the origins of the pandemic matter. Detailed understanding of how an animal virus jumped species boundaries to infect humans so productively will help in the prevention of future zoonotic events. For example, if SARS-CoV-2 pre-adapted in another animal species, then there is the risk of future re-emergence events. In contrast, if the adaptive process occurred in humans, then even if repeated zoonotic transfers occur, they are unlikely to take off without the same series of mutations. In addition, identifying the closest viral relatives of SARS-CoV-2 circulating in animals will greatly assist studies of viral function. Indeed, the availability of the RaTG13 bat sequence helped reveal key RBD mutations and the polybasic cleavage site.
The genomic features described here may explain in part the infectiousness and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2 in humans. Although the evidence shows that SARS-CoV-2 is not a purposefully manipulated virus, it is currently impossible to prove or disprove the other theories of its origin described here. However, since we observed all notable SARS-CoV-2 features, including the optimized RBD and polybasic cleavage site, in related coronaviruses in nature, we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible.
More scientific data could swing the balance of evidence to favor one hypothesis over another. Obtaining related viral sequences from animal sources would be the most definitive way of revealing viral origins. For example, a future observation of an intermediate or fully formed polybasic cleavage site in a SARS-CoV-2-like virus from animals would lend even further support to the natural-selection hypotheses. It would also be helpful to obtain more genetic and functional data about SARS-CoV-2, including animal studies. The identification of a potential intermediate host of SARS-CoV-2, as well as sequencing of the virus from very early cases, would similarly be highly informative. Irrespective of the exact mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 originated via natural selection, the ongoing surveillance of pneumonia in humans and other animals is clearly of utmost importance.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all those who have contributed sequences to the GISAID database (www.gisaid.org/) and analyses to Virological.org (virological.org/). We thank M. Farzan for discussions, and the Wellcome Trust for support. K.G.A. is a Pew Biomedical Scholar and is supported by NIH grant U19AI135995. A.R. is supported by the Wellcome Trust (Collaborators Award 206298/Z/17/Z―ARTIC network) and the European Research Council (grant agreement no. 725422―ReservoirDOCS). E.C.H. is supported by an ARC Australian Laureate Fellowship (FL170100022). R.F.G. is supported by NIH grants U19AI135995, U54 HG007480 and U19AI142790.
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Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
Kristian G. Andersen
Scripps Research Translational Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA
Kristian G. Andersen
Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
Andrew Rambaut
Center for Infection and Immunity, Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
W. Ian Lipkin
Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and School of Medical Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Edward C. Holmes
Tulane University, School of Medicine, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New Orleans, LA, USA
Robert F. Garry
Zalgen Labs, Germantown, MD, USA
Robert F. Garry
Corresponding author
Correspondence to Kristian G. Andersen.
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R.F.G. is co-founder of Zalgen Labs, a biotechnology company that develops countermeasures to emerging viruses.
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Andersen, K.G., Rambaut, A., Lipkin, W.I. et al. The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2. Nat Med (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9
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Published17 March 2020
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0820-9
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Cardiovascular Disease
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Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) hen at Teal Pond, Thomson Marsh, Kelowna, BC. The day before I saw her limping badly. On this day she could not stand and seemed to have lost all energy. Occasionally she displayed spastic convulsions. She is pretty much left alone by the other Mallards that frequent this pond. I expect tomorrow that she will have expired.
As with the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) that I observed dying and dead at Munson Pond late last summer, I have no facts about the causes of the demise of these two birds. I AM CERTAINLY NOT SAYING THAT THE DEATHS ARE CONNECTED TO BIRD FLU. BUT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW....
I feel sad....
This is an appropriate time to mention that in the past month and going back to the dying goose in the late summer at Munson Pond, I've been thinking about pandemics in the birds' world — avian flu and other diseases.
Did some checking, and here's a small sampling of what I found.
First from the USGS, 221016:
www.usgs.gov/centers/nwhc/science/avian-influenza-surveil...
" The USGS National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC) conducts surveillance in wild birds to facilitate early detection and situational awareness for high consequence pathogens, including highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses.
Investigating Avian Influenza in U.S. Wildlife
In addition to investigating wildlife mortality events since our founding in the 1970s, the NWHC conducts research to better understand processes and environmental factors that influence spread, distribution, and transmission of HPAI in wild birds and poultry. Surveillance activities conducted by NWHC, in support of national HPAI surveillance objectives, provide critical information regarding avian influenza strains currently circulating in the U.S. and enhance our understanding of disease impacts on wild birds. Wild bird surveillance also provides early warning for the agricultural sector and helps inform the need for increased biosecurity at poultry facilities.
Avian influenza among wild waterfowl is a concern among resource managers and owners of domestic fowl. Between 2016 and 2021, the NWHC tested over 3,400 wild-bird carcasses and over 12,400 swab samples from healthy wild birds for the presence of avian influenza viruses. While HPAI was not detected in any of these samples, over 2,600 low pathogenicity avian influenza viruses were identified and characterized, providing critical information to wildlife and agricultural officials regarding the spatial distribution and strains of avian influenza viruses circulating in our nation’s wildlife.
HPAI Surveillance Update 2021- 22
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in North American wild birds for the first time since 2015.HPAI Surveillance Update 2021- 22
Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in North American wild birds for the first time since 2015."
See the updated map for N. America published by USGS in November 2022 here: www.flickr.com/photos/8666250@N02/52728134324/in/datepost...
Sigh. This is a long and embarrassing story. I was keeping an eye out for Barypeithes pellucidus which is similar in colouring with this. Notably this is a bit of an odd colour for our local weevils. I found this specimen next to our kitchen kettle (weird) as I was about to go to work, so I shoved it into a sample jar and left. I then wanted to keep it alive, so flagged it with biosecurity, took some really token photos, then rushed to to the next things on the list... I didn't even download the photos so I was crossmatching ID with a small image on the camera. Questions were raised so I looked properly at the photos I'd taken and it is clearly not the species I thought it was. I think this one is Otiorhynchus cribricollis....the species I haven't seen for a decade.
Guemes Channel. Dakota Creek Industries Drydock.
Ronja Islander, completed construction in Norway in 2019
On the evening of March 8, 2025, the ship RONJA ISLANDER hit a rock in Tahsis Inlet, British Columbia, Canada, and began taking on water.
Here's a summary of the incident:
The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria received a distress call from the RONJA ISLANDER.
The Canadian Coast Guard's Tahsis lifeboat station deployed the CCGS Cape Dauphin and a fast rescue craft to assist.
The vessel had sustained some damage and was taking on water, but there were no fish on board at the time.
The ship's pumps were able to manage the water ingress.
The crew adjusted the ballast to raise the damaged area above the waterline.
The RONJA ISLANDER was able to travel under its own power to the West Coast Marine Terminals in Gold River.
There were no injuries or pollution reported as a result of the incident.
The Transportation Safety Board was informed of the incident and is gathering information.
The 'Namgis First Nation expressed concerns about the incident and called for a thorough investigation.
Grieg Seafood, the company hiring the vessel, stated they would conduct their own investigation to prevent future occurrences.
About the ship RONJA ISLANDER:
IMO: 9858357
MMSI: 316015480
Call Sign: VACK
Flag: Canada
Vessel Type: Fish Carrier (Well boat)
Length Overall (LOA): 69.86 - 70 meters
Beam (Width): 12 meters
Built Year: 2019
Deadweight (DWT): 2,200 tonnes
Gross Tonnage: 1843
Registered Owner: Sølvtrans Wellboat AS
The governments of Canada and BC are investing $300,000 to strengthen the surveillance, early detection, and response measures to avian flu.
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This video shows a number of methods of feeding bees during the inevitable periods when drought or absence of flowering trees make it difficult for bees to maintain colony strength.
One of the introduced pest species that now impact beehives is the Small Hive Beetle (Aethina tumida). It can be seen in this video.
If not controlled it contaminates the hive by laying its eggs in the cells of the comb. Ultimately these eggs hatch to be maggots which develop into beetles. Small Hive Beetle can be difficult to eliminate entirely however installation of a tray in the base of the hive containing vegetable oil is as effective a method as is currently available. The hives do however need regular maintenance to keep the numbers of beetles manageable. Out of control infestations ultimately could result in colony collapse.
My family were among the first white settlers on the NSW Mid North Coast and no doubt survived much hardship in establishing homes and businesses. Survival depended on having a range of personal attributes, stoicism and resilience being among them. However without knowledge of the climate, soil, land and forests as well as the skills to plan, farm and build effectively early pioneers would inevitably certainly have been defeated.
From the outset the early pioneers would certainly have recognised the importance of beekeeping as a necessary contribution to their survival effort. Therefore its no surprise that beekeeping has been passed down through the generations.
My brother, seen here in this video, is an enthusiastic amateur beekeeper (Planet Nectar) and he manages about 25 hives, as does another brother.
They both came by their interest in beekeeping having grown up in the business, as I did, having been expected to lend a hand in our parents commercial beekeeping business.
As commercial beekeepers (Honeygold Apriaries) they operated with up to 1000 hives at various times.
My father, soon to turn 98, continued to maintain at least 100 hives until well into his 80's and while my bothers have no intention of becoming commercial beekeepers they at least keep the family tradition alive.
An uncle's family are also commercial beekeepers having drifted into it when dairying declined. They are nowadays migratory beekeepers managing in excess of 1000 hives. They follow the honey flows right across the Australian east coast and hinterland no matter where trees or crops are flowering.
Another uncle also ran up to 100 hives as a sideline and several cousins also operated smaller numbers of hives as amateur beekeepers.
Drought and increasing disease issues associated with commercial beekeeping in recent years have certainly tested the skills and resolve of beekeepers across NSW and elsewhere.
While honey production remains the core business of large beekeeping operations many commercial beekeepers survive by transporting their hives long distances overnight to various fruit growing areas to help pollinate commercial orchards, without which, hand pollination would be an enormously costly and inefficient way of growing fruit or other crops.
In some countries this process of placing pollination hives in commercial orchards and food crop growing areas has managed to keep whole food producing industries viable.
In those countries where bee killing diseases exist they ultimately sound a death knell to the hives and beekeepers know that their hives will not survive the season due to disease killing their hives (colony collapse disorders).
These beekeepers need to operate at scale to ensure they have a regular turnaround of hives to meet the annual increasing demand for bees as vectors of pollination.
Climate change, drought and disease have increasingly impacted the beekeeping industry the world over and stringent biosecurity measures are now both urgent and essential if the industry is to survive and see global food security guaranteed.
Rangitoto Island - 2015
Looking east form Cheltenham Beach to Rangitoto Island, a protected Scenic Reserve. The island is 'pest-free' (except fpr humans!) and is the newest volcano in New Zealand - just 600 years old. The idea of being pest-free, is that there are no rodents, insects, skinks, or other non-native spieces on the island. This allow native spieces, like Kiwis and Tautara, to thrive. New Zealanders take their bio-diversity and bio-security very seriously.