Wednesday, 27 May 2020

Spare a thought for the pigs


This being my first attempt at using the new Blogger interface, due to become the default shortly. The first change that I noticed being the absence of the HTML option, commented on at reference 1. The second change being the changes to the details of inserting pictures. I dare say that there is plenty which has changed for the better and that I will get used to it all eventually.

Prompted by being reminded by the Microsoft news feed about the unfolding tragedy in the world of pigs known as African Swine Fever or ASF. A highly infectious and usually fatal disease spreading through the pigs of the world, with the one snapped coming with the caption 'provided by the Guardian. A wild boar in woods near Saint-Hubert, Belgium. Recent ASF outbreaks in the country’s wild boar population are now under control. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA-EFE'.

All a bit more drastic for the pigs than the coronavirus is for us because, as with mad cow and foot & mouth with cows, the usual response is the slaughter of any pig deemed to be in range of an infected pig. Getting on for 6 million of them so far this year. Rampant in the Far East and in Eastern Europe, and looks to spread further. But seemingly not Africa, despite the name.

But to put things in perspective, more than 6 million animals were slaughtered in this country alone during the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth. With the same sort of disregard for regulations which triggered this outbreak being all too likely to let ASF into our green and usually pleasant land. The same Professor Roy Anderson from Imperial, presently in the news again, was one of those on the case. See reference 2.

PS: later, not just the details of the insertion of pictures, but also the details of their display on smart phones, with text now appearing at the side of left justified snaps, as this one. What one wants on a big screen, but not a small one. A problem for tomorrow.


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