Abstract
This paper is about an avian influenza outbreak in South Africa’s commercial ostrich industry. The outbreak was managed according to international best practice and led to the destruction of 30,000 ostriches in two of South Africa’s provinces. However, the industry has a long history of managing low pathogenic avian influenza outbreaks in a different way. We use the 2004 outbreak and earlier approaches to managing disease to shed light on recent debates on how we might live differently with livestock diseases. The paper is based on in-depth interviews with farmers, veterinarians, scientists and agriculture officials.
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Abbreviations
- BSE:
-
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
- DOA:
-
Department of Agriculture
- JOC:
-
Joint Operations Centre
- KKC:
-
Klein Karoo Cooperative
- NAMC:
-
National Agricultural Marketing Council
- NDA:
-
South Africa National Department of Agriculture
- OIE:
-
World Organisation for Animal Health
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This article represents a contribution to an emerging and critical literature on biosecurity.
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Mather, C., Marshall, A. Living with disease? Biosecurity and avian influenza in ostriches. Agric Hum Values 28, 153–165 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-010-9271-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-010-9271-0