XPost: uk.politics.misc, uk.politics.animals, alt.politics.british   
   XPost: uk.media   
   From: banana@REMOVE_THIS.borve.demon.co.uk   
      
   In article , Stephen Glynn   
    writes   
      
   >banana wrote:   
   >> In article , Stephen Glynn   
   >>  writes   
   >>   
   >>> banana wrote:   
   >>>> What to make of the German 'cat and dog danger' story?   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Conditions are currently so crazy in Europe and the US that I wouldn't   
   >>>> be surprised if this leads to a 'surprise'-themed pervasive call for   
   >>>> lifestyle change, security, and vigilance against resistors...   
   >>>>   
   >>>> How keeping a dog on a lead prevents it from getting flu, I don't know!   
   >>   
   >>> Presumably it's so you can keep your dog well away from sick birds on   
   >>> the ground, from which it might contract the disease if it goes and   
   >>> gives the poor things a good sniff.   
   >>   
   >> But sick birds cannot be expected to avoid paths, or for that matter   
   >> people's gardens.   
      
   >Yeah, and if you've got your dog on a lead you can stop him from   
   >investigating the sick bird you and he encounter on the path while   
   >you're taking him for a walk, can't you?   
      
   In principle, yes. But does the government advice say:   
      
   'When walking your dog, please keep an eye on him at all times, both on   
   paths and grass areas. Do not stop to chat with anyone, or if you do,   
   make sure you keep your dog on a short lead and he doesn't get a chance   
   to sniff under a bush or anywhere there might be a sick bird'   
      
   ?   
      
   I'm not asking rhetorically. Maybe it does say something like this.   
      
   How dogs, especially larger ones, can get a proper amount of exercise   
   without being let off the lead, I don't know!   
      
   I'd be very interested to know what the response to these official   
   orders in Germany has actually been.   
      
   I'm kind of waiting for what's going to happen next. Will the   
   authorities try to wipe out migratory and other wild birds, or what?   
   Might they try to crack down on pet ownership, or change its form - make   
   it something that is much more regulated and connected with public   
   obedience to the State? Hard to predict, but we live in crazy times...   
      
   In China in the 1950s, the authorities tried to wipe out sparrows... The   
   country was then overrun with locusts. This contributed to a famine in   
   which millions of people died.   
      
   --   
   banana     "The thing I hate about you, Rowntree, is the way you   
               give Coca-Cola to your scum, and your best teddy-bear to   
               Oxfam, and expect us to lick your frigid fingers for the   
               rest of your frigid life." (Mick Travis, 'If...', 1968)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)