March 2018
Poultry Expert Joins The KSVDL
|
|
|
|
Dr. Cindy Bell |
|
|
|
As in many places throughout the US, the popularity of backyard and small flock poultry in Kansas has grown in recent years. Dr. Cindy Bell is one individual who hopes to engage poultry enthusiasts of Kansas. Dr. Bell joined the KSVDL in August 2017 as an Anatomic Pathologist. She has already stepped up to bring a bit more poultry into the DVM curriculum by providing wet labs to students on poultry necropsy and by giving poultry-focused guest lectures in already existing courses such as Nutrition and Exotic Animal Medicine. Dr. Bell's primary effort is in diagnostic service at KSVDL and she is enthusiastic about working up cases from backyard flocks, small commercial flocks, and game bird producers.
In addition to specific cases of poultry disease, many potential or current backyard flock keepers have questions about regulations, biosecurity and safety. Answers are not always easy to find so we have shared links to two recent posts from other sources. First, the Center for Disease Control has posted a final map of all cases of a recent multi-state outbreak in which human Salmonella infection was linked to backyard poultry. Second, a recent posting by University of California-Davis explores questions about the possible need for more regulation of backyard flocks in order to ensure the health of both human and poultry.
Keeping backyard poultry can be very gratifying and KSVDL is here to provide expertise in surveillance and diagnostic testing for poultry diseases.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/backyard-chickens-need-more-regulation
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/live-poultry-06-17/map.html
For more information contact KSVDL Client Care at 866-512-5650 or clientcare@vet.k-state.edu.