I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

In the past few weeks several wild birds have turned up dead, in Hong Kong, of H5N1.  On January 26, a dead goose tested positive for H5N1.  Of interest is that it was not from a poultry farm, and was no where near poultry when it was found.  Then on January 30, a dead peregrine falcon was found.  It died of H5N1, and was no where near any poultry farms.  Also on January 30, a black headed gull was found dead of H5N1, however it was found within three km (1.8 miles) of chicken farms.

In Bangladesh, officials have revealed they’ve been dealing with a full blown epidemic involving a dozen poultry farms.

From November to January 31, 67,327 birds and 69,390 eggs were destroyed, in an effort to stop the spread of H5N1.  Officials pointed out that normally the height of the H5N1 season is usually January/February, but they’ve been dealing with this latest outbreak since November!

Farmers in Bangladesh suffered such drastic poultry culling through the winter of 2009/10 as well.

Bangladesh was first hit with H5N1 in March 2007.  Many Asian countries have killed hundreds of thousands of farm birds, in an effort to stop H5N1.  Such action has to adversely affect food supply, and prices.