Bird Lovers Wait for the Knock on the Door

“Disease Task Force Eyeing Pet Birds” (April 12), on the Exotic Newcastle Disease Task Force being given the authority to enter private homes and kill pet birds without a positive diagnosis for the disease, reports: “They walk door-to-door, searching for sick birds. If a bird is suspected of having the disease, it is killed immediately, in some cases in front of crying owners.”

I’m completely in favor of avian disease control (this disease does not affect humans). If my parakeets were found to have the disease, I would be the first to bring them forward for humane euthanasia, but to kill healthy pets by sticking them in a bag with carbon dioxide in front of their owners is appalling. Even more shocking is the fact that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has asked postal employees to help it locate bird owners. These are truly draconian measures, and it makes me wonder about the source of this authority. Could the multibillion-dollar poultry industry be doing some arm-twisting in a desperate effort to save its corporate profits?

I like to eat chicken, but I will be boycotting poultry products until sanity returns.

Terry Larsen

Ventura