Where passion for animals, science, and medicine lives…
We have discussed many aspects of agriculture and food safety. There remains one species of food producing animals who rarely get the credit they deserve. This group forms the backbone of many sectors of agriculture, and often go unnoticed. While they do give their lives to provide subsistence for humans, we do not eat them. […]
Continue Reading
I have always undervalued vomiting. I hate vomiting. When I say “hate,” I am not using this in our culture’s overused version of the term. I really hate it. So much so that I have only vomited four times in my life: once while experiencing dysentery in Egypt, once when overeating watermelon as a child, […]
Continue Reading
The US is currently battling another foreign animal disease (FAD) outbreak. Virulent Newcastle Disease (VND) made its way into southern California and continues to spread. Newcastle Disease is considered to be one of the most important poultry diseases worldwide. The disease was first discovered in Indonesia in 1926. Newcastle Disease is caused by an avian […]
Continue Reading
I remember being a small child and my father took me to the Los Angeles Zoo. Having been raised in the suburbs, livestock represented cute accessories to my finished, miniature Lincoln-Log cabins that I would construct. Small plastic sheep and goats would be set within the small green fence that I would make around the […]
Continue Reading
The weather around the globe continues its unpredictable pattern. Many areas of the US are experiencing unusual flooding for this time of year. With flood waters, come hordes of tiny vectors, harboring many infectious diseases. Among these, a few are zoonotic. In 1999, a veterinarian at the Bronx Zoo in New York City noticed an […]
Continue Reading
It has been a very active summer for emerging disease outbreaks across the globe. The US has had two outbreaks thus far and is bracing for a third. Backyard poultry flocks have been scourged with Virulent Newcastle Disease, and commercial turkey flocks are fighting Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza. On the heels of these outbreaks, the […]
Continue Reading
We all love goats. How could you not? Even Abraham Lincoln had pet pair of goats named Nanny and Nanko who used to chew on the White House furniture. Goats are worthy not only of our love but of our admiration as well. Goats hold a number of superpowers, one of them being able to […]
Continue Reading
Terms of Venery In the late Middle Ages, the terms of naming groups of animals rapidly expanded. After all, without Netflix or Twitter, what else do you do in the evening? Let’s create names! The Term of Venery, as they called it, for a group of goats is flock or herd. However, the lesser used […]
Continue Reading