silky fowl

鳥インフルエンザに関する記事です。渡り鳥から強毒性の鳥インフルエンザがすでに何件か検出されており、養鶏場では感染防止に全力を注いでいます。

Poultry farms nervous

“There’s nothing we can do to stop migratory birds from coming,” said a 35-year-old female employee of a poultry farm in Saitama Prefecture. “I’m concerned that birds carrying the virus could enter the poultry housing.” The farm’s chicken facilities, which are home to about 7,000 birds, are covered with netting to prevent the intrusion of wild birds. These nets are checked often and mended immediately if any tears are discovered. Access to the housing is restricted to staff only, and workers’ boots are sanitized regularly to prevent the transmission of viruses.

A farming center of the Tokyo Development Foundation for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, in Ome, Tokyo, raises an original breed of silky fowl known as Tokyo Ukokkei and sells chicks to poultry farmers. The center has been keeping anyone who is not a staff member away from the chicken coop, and employees must put on special work clothes before entering the facility.
“If an outbreak were to occur at the center, the Tokyo Ukokkei would be extinguished,” said one worker.

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0001769306

記事にはいくつか鳥の名前が出てきていますが今回は取り上げるのは”silky fowl”です。ジーニアスにもLDOCEにも載っていませんでしたが、Weblio英和辞典によるとこれは「烏骨鶏」を意味するそうです。烏骨鶏には白色と黒色がいますが、成鳥になってもヒヨコと同様に綿毛に覆われているそうです。写真を見てみると白い烏骨鶏は本当にシルクのような美しさです。

ちなみに、烏骨鶏は西インドや中国に幅広く分布しているそうですが、辞書に載っていないということはアメリカやイギリスの人にはあまり知られていない鳥なのでしょうか。(bookmark)