The Animal Doctor

DEAR DR. FOX: You have written about many serious political issues arising from the Trump administration. This is my question: How can those of us who care make a difference? I feel so helpless. It is all very depressing. -- B.K., Washington, D.C.

DEAR B.K.: These are challenging times for all who bear the burden of empathy. Even so, we can all do something to live conscientiously, benevolently and mindfully, and to beat depression and despair.

First, stay informed. Read attorney Jim Mason’s book “Madness” (see review below) and my book “One Health.” Visit Project Drawdown (drawdown.org) to find more sustainable ways to live.

Cut down on the time you spend on social media and gaming, and drop energy-consuming cybercurrency transactions entirely. Find alternatives to plastic food containers and grocery bags. Avoid plastic toys for infants and children. If you have a garden or lawn, get a permit to rewild it with indigenous grasses, flowers, shrubs and trees, and don’t use pesticides on your property.

Substitute videoconferencing for business travel. As for pleasure travel, there is some benefit to taking eco-tours in countries with high biodiversity. This supports local businesses that benefit from, and have an incentive to protect, their countries’ ecosystems. It also persuades policymakers that there is economic gain in taking positions against extractive industries.

Buy less, waste less, recycle, repair and donate to the needy. Give to nonprofit organizations such as Greenpeace, Project Coyote, the Environmental Working Group and Friends of the Earth. Consider helping local charities or volunteering at your local animal shelter.

Reduce (ideally, eliminate) your consumption of alcohol and highly processed foods. Salt- and fat-laden snacks and sugary beverages are metabolic disruptors. Prepare your own meals with organically certified fruits, nuts, grains and vegetables. Consider the suffering and environmental impact of animal factories and feedlots, and go vegan -- or at least vegetarian. I will guarantee the physical and mental health benefits!

Adopt a cat or a dog and spend quality time outdoors. Walk, walk, walk. Take up birdwatching and use your smartphone to identify wild plants and birdsongs. Pick up a musical instrument and jam with friends.

Join hands with others, nationally and internationally, who embrace equalitarianism, social and ecological justice and planetary CPR: conservation, protection and restoration.

If we are not willing and able to die for what and whom we love, then what purpose do we have? Be free, harm none, courageously speak truth to power, and celebrate the gifts of life.

BOOK REVIEW: ‘MADNESS’ BY JIM MASON

“Madness: The Deep Driver of Our Climate Crisis; Lessons From My Family Farm” by Jim Mason

Attorney and author Mason vividly details his emotionally traumatic experiences of how animals were treated and killed while growing up on a farm, and how he became desensitized to their suffering. He expands on these memories to outline how the domestication, eventual confinement and increasing slaughter of animals for food and other commercial purposes -- along with the wholesale exploitation and desecration of nature -- have been the norm for civilizations past and present.

Humans have now reached the point, because of our numbers and the billions of animals raised for our consumption, where these norms have caused climate and extinction crises. This book explains this collective madness in succinct detail and offers solutions we should all embrace.

All who care about animals and nature will appreciate this contribution to understanding our planetary responsibilities. Those who care mainly about their own health and well-being should still follow Mason’s journey and discover the healing power of empathy and compassion for all creatures great and small.

(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: Antibodies to the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus were found in the blood of three veterinarians out of 150 who work with cattle and agreed to have their blood tested, reports the CDC. The findings were presented in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, which the agency has resumed publishing. The study participants also completed a questionnaire and reported no symptoms of illness, and they had no exposure to cattle known to be infected. “This means that people are being infected, likely due to their occupational exposures, and not developing signs of illness and therefore not seeking medical care,” said infectious diseases expert Gregory Gray. (Full story: The Associated Press, Feb. 13)

This raises the biosecurity issue of reverse zoonosis: people infecting animals. This is increasingly likely in all who have contact with chickens, ducks, turkeys and dairy cows, but who show no signs of illness.

The outbreak has also affected the economy. Per a Jan. 30 article in Forbes: "As of November 2024, the outbreak had cost the country approximately $1.4 billion, the majority of which is for indemnity and compensation payments to farmers for flocks that have been culled." These "culled" birds were inhumanely killed, by switching off the ventilation and even turning up the heat in some cases, to ostensibly help prevent the spread of this virus.

The COVID-19 pandemic pales in comparison to this panzootic disease that has killed many wildlife species, marine and terrestrial, around the world. As long as there are CAFOs -- concentrated animal feeding operations, commonly called factory farms and feedlots -- public health will always be at risk because the costs of effective biosecurity would undermine any significant profits from such inhumane forms of farmed animal production.

This complex animal welfare, environmental and public health issue should be on the agenda of every government around the world. Readers who would like more details can email me at IPAN@erols.com to receive my regularly updated file of news reports, "Avian Influenza: A Global Pandemic Not Just for the Birds."

Additionally, a new online resource from the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine provides reliable information for members of the general public, farmers, wildlife professionals, state and public health agencies, and veterinarians. Visit vet.cornell.edu/highly-pathogenic-avian-influenza-bird-flu-resource-center.

DEAR DR. FOX: I liked your recent column, both for its comments on the idiotic plan to gut USAID and for the reference to animals in South India. I was born and raised in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and visit often -- especially my beloved Western Ghats, a priceless but threatened ecological treasure.

Is your late wife’s organization still active? Does it have a website or other source for information and possible support? -- P.Z., Northfield, Minnesota

DEAR P.Z.: My late wife, Deanna Krantz’s, organization -- India Project for Animals and Nature, summarized in the book “India’s Animals: Helping the Sacred and the Suffering” -- was victim of an illegal takeover. However, we continued to support the essential work of her chief veterinarian, Dr. M. Sugumaran, and his son, also a veterinarian. Father and son work together to help the poor villagers and tribal communities in the Nilgiri Mountains, famed for its cultural and biological diversity. For details, see the Prakriti Save Nature Trust website at prakritigudalur.in, which is government-certified to receive foreign donations.

For U.S. donors to get a tax deduction for donating to a 501(c)(3) charity organization, the California-based Humane Farming Association has generously offered to assist with processing donations. Checks should be made out to Humane Farming Association, with “Prakriti India” in the memo line, and sent to this address: Humane Farming Association, attn. Brad Miller, P.O. Box 3577, San Rafael CA 94912. All donors will receive a letter of acknowledgment from the HFA for their tax records.

(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 DR. FOX: I am a conservative supporter of Donald Trump, and I also appreciate your very thoughtful articles. I’m sure you have a great following, which means you have influence over what people think, especially if they respect you as much as I do. Thank you in advance for considering my comments below.

I would like to ask you to look more closely at why Trump withdrew from the Paris Climate Accords and the World Health Organization. There are some very legitimate concerns. Personally, my greatest concern is the agreement that WHO wanted every country to sign, which would give them the power to shut down our country if they decide it’s necessary.

Perhaps you are OK with that, but I am not, and neither is anyone I know (including Democrats). -- D.M., Bonita Springs, Florida

DEAR D.M.: I do not like to discuss political issues in this column, but when they threaten environmental stability, wildlife protections and public health, I feel compelled to speak out. We need a United Environmental Nations organization to protect and restore the planet -- not nationalism, isolationism and competition.

Dr. Bruce Kaplan is a like-minded fellow veterinarian, as well as a leader in the One Health movement and the content manager for its website (onehealthinitiative.com). All concerned about their health, and that of the world, should read his Feb. 11 article entitled, “One Health Speaks Truth to All Listening.”

As Kaplan states, “the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the World Health Organization and many other organizations recognize and have adopted the principles of One Health. However, the new U.S. administration has yet to endorse this most practicable strategy to significantly help 'Make America Healthy Again.' Indeed, the White House has issued an executive order withdrawing the United States from WHO, yet to be rescinded. ... The U.S. should salvage and stay associated with WHO in collaboration with CDC, USDA and others.” (See the full post here: impakter.com/one-health-speaks-truth-to-all-listening.)

For more details on the human benefits of environmental and wildlife protection and veterinary services, see my book “One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives.”

FIRING OF ESSENTIAL USDA STAFF

The Trump administration has fired about 25% of the personnel at the USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network, including scientists at labs testing samples and tracking avian influenza. (Full story: United Press International, Feb. 16)

Since this ridiculous firing, there has been a push to rehire those involved in studying and tracking the avian influenza panzootic disease.

LAYOFFS BEGIN AT EPA

In mid-February, termination notices started going out at the Environmental Protection Agency. More than 1,000 employees tasked with regulating air pollution, researching the health effects of toxic chemicals and more have been notified that they might be fired.

“I’m scared to open my computer every morning,” says one EPA scientist who asked for anonymity. Another 171 staff members have been placed on administrative leave because they work on programs related to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and environmental justice. (Full story: Nature.com, Feb. 14)

AVIAN INFLUENZA RESPONSE TO SHIFT AS EGG PRICES RISE

The Trump administration is preparing to introduce a new avian influenza outbreak response centered on vaccinations and biosecurity instead of the mass culling of poultry. The administration plans to collaborate with experts to refine the approach, which includes creating a “better, smarter perimeter” around farms to prevent the spread of the virus, according to Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council. Tighter biosecurity around infected farms “requires an incredible amount of work on the ground,” said veterinarian Carol Cardona, an avian influenza expert at the University of Minnesota. (Full story: The Associated Press, Feb. 18)

However, vaccinations may well lead to asymptomatic birds still spreading the virus to the unvaccinated. Japan, Thailand, the U.S., Canada and the U.K. have blocked imports of poultry from France due to avian influenza vaccinations -- a position the U.S. may now reverse!

(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.)