DEAR READERS: Please read this news release from the Center for Food Safety (CFS) about a recent victory for organic standards and animal welfare.

The full release is available at centerforfoodsafety.org.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today (Oct. 25), the USDA released the final Organic Livestock and Poultry Standards (OLPS) rule, delivering an important victory for farmers, consumers and animal welfare advocates. OLPS is a vital step in providing strong animal welfare protections under the USDA Organic label. (This) decision is a direct result of Center for Food Safety (CFS) litigation, which six years ago challenged the Trump administration’s decision that organic standards could not cover animal welfare. Following court order, the Biden administration has now reversed that determination and reaffirmed that organic includes protecting animal welfare.

“We are gratified that the new rule confirms what we have long argued in court: Organic farming means farming with integrity, and that must include animal welfare,” said Amy van Saun, CFS senior attorney and counsel in the case. “While there are more steps to go, this rule should once and for all put to bed misguided and unlawful views to the contrary that we have successfully fought to prevent from becoming law the last six years.”

The finalized rule comes almost a year after USDA’s proposed changes to the original Organic Livestock and Poultry Practices rule, which was first implemented in 2017 and then rescinded by the Trump administration in 2018. CFS, representing organic farmers, certifiers, retailers and animal welfare groups, sued the Trump administration to reverse its unlawful withdrawal of the original OLPP. After years of litigation, the Biden administration reconsidered the withdrawal, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California allowed USDA to revise and update its rulemaking. The Court stayed the case awaiting USDA’s new decision but kept jurisdiction. (This) final rule is the result of that process.

Once implemented, this set of rules will immediately improve the lives of millions of animals raised organically, especially chickens. Thanks in part to CFS’s litigation, the OLPS will make several significant improvements, including:

-- Confirming in detail the USDA’s authority under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) to protect the health and welfare of organic animals.

-- Confirming the economic benefits to farmers from improving animal welfare and the benefits to consumers, who can more fully rely on the USDA Organic seal to ensure good animal welfare.

-- Setting indoor and outdoor spacing requirements for chickens and eliminating the “porch” loophole that some factory farms exploited to avoid providing birds with meaningful outdoor access.

-- Prohibiting cruel, painful and unnecessary physical alterations, such as de-beaking and tail docking.

-- Setting new standards to ensure animal welfare during transport and slaughter.

SALMON FARMING, SALMON SUFFERING

In their overcrowded floating enclosures, farmed salmon are stressed and in constant contact with each other -- creating ideal conditions for the spread of sea lice. Pesticides have been used against sea lice, but these poison wild fish, other sea life and birds where they are in operation. So alternative controls for this parasite, which must drive the fish crazy, are being evaluated.

Thermal de-licing methods, as well as brushing or rinsing live salmon to remove lice, can make the fish substantially more susceptible to a disease known as pasteurellosis. Thermal de-licing was associated with a 177% increased risk for pasteurellosis the following month, while brushing and rinsing were associated with a 164% increase. However, freshwater de-licing raised the risk by only 17%, according to researchers at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute. (Full story: Fish Farmer Magazine, Oct. 31)

A massive outbreak of sea lice struck a fish farm in Iceland recently. The problem only got worse after the farm operators used an insecticide, suggesting that pesticide resistance has evolved in the lice, says fish disease specialist Berglind Helga Bergsdottir. (Full story: The Guardian, Nov. 3)

This industry should be closed for humane and environmental reasons, as well as for public health reasons, since the oceans connect us all. Salmon are fed fish “bycatch” -- all the sea life caught by the fishing industry that does not go into the public market or pet foods. Dioxins and other contaminants in farmed salmon, which they accumulate as apex predators, call for reconsideration by all advocates of salmon as a “health food.”

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” is the famous and timely statement of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The human death and injury tolls we are witnessing in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Sudan and Yemen are spreading this blindness and its tragic consequences to all sides, including all the millions of animals in their communities.

While reflecting on Gandhi’s words, I came across a relevant article by Indian physicians Dr. Harish Gupta and Dr. Satish Kumar in the British Medical Journal. Entitled “Acknowledge, in the curriculum, those who suffered for the advancement of medical science,” it is about the ethics of gaining medical information from wartime atrocities. They conclude: “To aspire for an everlasting peace in our world, we need to realize that the human race is one and all the perpetrators of violence need to be equated -- regardless of their religion, nationality, allegiance or ideology. On the other side, we believe that all the sufferers deserve our equal sympathy, care, moral support, and a feeling of belonging; regardless of their demographic characteristics.” (See the story at BMJ.com, posted March 4, 2020.)

With both eyes open, we can surely make peace with each other, evolve, see the future and even make it better. We and other social animals have mirror neurons in our brains that enable feeling for others and allow the interpretation of their behavior in self-referential terms. Some emotions in social animals are highly contagious and generally have survival value -- except in humans, when manipulated for harmful ideological and political ends.

If we do not control our emotional reactions and utilize our mirror neurons -- that is, if we let wars continue instead of collectively addressing the rapidly deteriorating condition of the planet -- this era will become a global dystopia.

We are already witnessing more extreme climatic events; pandemic diseases, which also decimate wildlife populations; strife over dwindling natural resources; community violence; child and animal abuse; deaths from drug overdoses; and suicides now increasing in younger age groups, along with cancer. It is self-evident from a One Health perspective that harming the environment is a crime against humanity and should be prosecuted since we and all life are connected.

All nations must now make peace and cooperate in restoring the environment, natural biodiversity, wildlife habitat and agricultural sustainability for the health and security of generations to come. And all of us need to see each other with eyes wide open and put an end to sexism, racism and speciesism.

DEAR DR. FOX: I am writing you because my dog just had a seizure and we think it’s from neosporosis. Just wondering if you had any advice. Do you think antibiotics will buy us some time? -- C.J., Witzenhausen, Germany

DEAR C.J.: So sorry to hear about your dog’s health issue. Has the diagnosis been confirmed, and if so, how do you think he got it? Feeding raw meat to dogs can be one significant source.

Below is more information on the disease, pulled from this article: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30050838.

"The domestic and wild canids are the definitive host of the parasite. They shed oocysts after ingestion of tissue cysts from infected intermediate hosts (ovine, equine, bovine, canine, and many other species), containing bradyzoites, or oocyst-contaminated water and food. The presence of dogs in farms is considered a risk factor for production animals. A wide range of diagnostic methods are currently available, but the most used is serology, i.e., indirect fluorescent antibody test specific to the antibody detection in blood serum samples. No vaccine is available, but control strategies should be focused on the vertical and horizontal transmission of the parasite, i.e., avoid feeding dogs with raw or undercooked meat, and taking care with water for human and animal consumption."

Clindamycin is the first line of treatment adopted by some veterinarians, and courses of over eight weeks are sometimes required. The prognosis for puppies, once contracture has occurred, is poor. Clinical neosporosis in puppies has been treated with some success by prolonged administration of clindamycin or potentiated sulfa drugs.

The possibility of dogs contracting neosporosis is one of the reasons why I advise against them being fed raw and undercooked meats. It is fortunate that people are relatively immune to this organism and rarely become infected.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: Reporter Dennis Anderson’s article “Preparation the key to fun, safe deer opener” (Star Tribune, Nov. 3) omitted an important public health warning: Deer can be infected with the COVID-19 virus. Perhaps this omission was to avoid causing panic -- or putting a dent in the hunting industry’s profits, if would-be hunters decided to avoid contact with deer and forgo the hunt. Revenue from hunting and fishing licenses supports the state government’s public lands and wildlife management programs.

Either way, there are too many deer in many states, with many animals even entering suburban gardens in search of food. Because deer hunting is needed to control their numbers, it is time to give protection to natural predators -- especially wolves, grizzly bears and mountain lions/cougars -- that will help keep wildlands healthy, whether public, state, federal or private.

Mismanagement of these overabundant, over-browsing, forest-destroying deer has facilitated the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) across the country. The causal agent is a prion that could mutate, like the prion that decimated the U.K.’s beef and dairy industries, and infect livestock and people.

The number of white-tailed deer infected with COVID-19 variants exceeds human infections threefold, while human-to-deer transmission appears to be occurring. Virus circulation in deer is significant because it can spread to livestock and other wildlife. (See these studies: "Accelerated evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging white-tailed deer" by Dillon McBride et al, published in August in Nature Communications; and "Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in free-ranging white-tailed deer in the United States" by Aijing Feng et al, published in July in Nature Communications.)

An analysis of wild white-tailed deer by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service determined that SARS-CoV-2 variants appeared to perpetuate in the deer and be exchanged back and forth with humans, in some cases.

All deer hunters, in every state and regardless of vaccination status, need to be mindful of the risks involved in dismembering their kills. All involved in handling the meat should consider wearing protective gloves and masks.

GOOD NEWS FOR HORSES

The practice of soring, or deliberately inflicting pain on horses to force an exaggerated gait, has been illegal in the U.S. for five decades, but some trainers exploit loopholes in the law's enforcement. A proposed rule from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is intended to eliminate such loopholes. The comment period for the proposed rule ended on Oct. 20, bringing it one step closer to passing.

The AVMA and the American Association of Equine Practitioners condemn the practice of soring and support the proposed changes. (Full story: AVMA.org, Oct. 19)

DEAR DR. FOX: I wanted to share the horrors we went through with our cat for the past three weeks.

We first noticed drainage coming out of her right nostril. It was mostly clear, and she was sneezing quite a bit. We took her to our vet, and they thought she had an upper respiratory infection. We gave her antibiotics and went on our way.

One week later, the drainage had increased and turned bloody, and her appetite was starting to decrease. We called the vet again, and they had us pick up another antibiotic/immune system boost to add to her food.

That Sunday, she stopped eating, stopped drinking and began isolating herself. She was not going to the bathroom as much. At that point, nothing was helping. She was dying, and we knew it.

I kept crying, trying to think of anything we had done differently around the house that might have triggered all this, and that’s when it hit me: About a month ago, my husband had found some good-smelling plug-in fragrance diffusers. I immediately unplugged them, opened the windows and turned on some fans.

By that evening, our cat was able to walk to us. The next morning, she woke me up at 4:45 a.m., meowing and hungry. Her nasal drainage had stopped, she was eating, her balance was improving and she wanted attention.

After further investigation, we learned that several of these diffusers are toxic to animals, and that they cause more severe reactions in cats because they are at nose level to them. -- A.T., Washington, D.C.

DEAR A.T.: Thank you for your story, which I will post. I think many of these products can trigger asthmatic reactions and nasal sinus issues in cats and their human companions. I see so many being advertised on TV and just shake my head in disbelief.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)