No danger to humans
No danger to humans
I’d like to comment on a recent article in West Hawaii Today and Hawaii Tribune-Herald on bovine trichomoniasis (“cattle STD”). This is an STD disease of cattle that is not infectious to humans and does not affect the safety or quality of beef produced in Hawaii.
If left unchecked, it is costly, causing high rates of cattle abortions. Mr. Kyle Soares provided his opinion of the outbreak and its control which does not express the views of our members who represent 80 percent of the cattle in our state. The nine quarantines put in place, along with herd clean-up plans by the state Department of Agriculture to date have contained the outbreak, eliminated the infection in one herd and substantially reduced it in the rest.
Mr. Soares comments that several states require more routine testing. These states, unlike Hawaii, have herds of multiple ownerships grazing together, a high-risk practice when controlling trichomoniasis, so these states take more stringent steps to prevent it. Since infection is found most frequently in older bulls, the Ag Department tests older culled bulls sent to USDA slaughter, which provides a sensitive and cost-effective means of detecting infection.
At the time of the first cases being identified, Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council Strongly supported the Department of Agriculture’s quarantine and encouraged not only its members, but all cattlemen to work quickly and comply with the quarantine. The DOA has given biannual reports and has had discussions on best management practices to control the disease at our annual and semiannual meetings, along with other means to reach all cattlemen.
Alex Franco
president, Hawaii Cattlemen’s Council
Thanks, voters
Mahalo to the hunters and fishermen of the Big Island, all of their families and supporters who rely on subsistence hunting. Mahalo to all who supported the county ballot question No. 6, the Advisory Council on Game Management. We showed the politicians that the people’s voice is not to be ignored.
We may not know everything, but we know some things that researchers don’t know. Not ALL knowledge comes from books. Our knowledge can be put together with your knowledge to create plans and policies that includes all — not just conservationists. Life experiences, inherited traditions and respect for the past must be used as decisions for the future are weighed and considered.
Pat Pacheco
Hilo
Generating profits
We keep hearing these advertisements about how HELCO really doesn’t make all that much money and the costs are not their fault. This is hard to swallow when they made MILLIONS in PROFITS last year alone. It also makes one ask: If they aren’t making money hand over fist, how can they afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars they are spending now to say how much money they aren’t making? Wake up. HELCO is a crooked as it gets.
And, no, the “liberal Congress,” as one person put, it is NOT going to try and raise fuel costs. That would be the crooked Republican oil company owners, like Mitt Romney and George Bush.
Obama DID talk about pursuing local oil. Fear-mongering will no longer work, Republicans. We are not that stupid, and the re-election of Obama proves just that.
Rick Davis
Keaau