Gowanus Lounge has long thought that live poultry markets were gross in an olfactory way and possibly troubling in a cruelty to chickens sense. We’ve seen poultry trucks hauling chickens around in milk crates and we’re either overly empathetic or simply weird, but we feel for the birds stuffed into tiny spaces. And, we don’t even particularly like chickens as creatures.
In any case, the city’s announcement of its Avian Flu Disaster Plan (not to be confused with the newly updated Hurricane Disaster Plan) got us to thinking about the live poultry markets scattered across NYC’s five boroughs. Could the markets serve as petri dishes for avian flu? In theory, absolutely. Ironically, as concern about H5N1 and an avian flu pandemic has mounted, the number of poultry markets has increased. (Los Angeles, Miami and New York are among the top US cities for them.) In New York, the number has quadrupled in four years.
Health and saftey standards at the live bird markets are not the highest. The USDA depends on self-regulation in most cases (there’s an effective mechanism for you) and New York State inspections are few and far between.
Googling “live poultry brooklyn,” produces more than 300 spots in the five boroughs and Northern New Jersey where you can score live chickens, ducks, turkeys, etc. The Brooklyn markets are located on Columbia Street on the waterfront, on Greenpoint Avenue in Greenpoint, on Humboldt Street in Williamsburg, on 21st Street in Sunset Park and in other spots. The Gowanus Lounge Live Brooklyn Chicken Map, above, with thanks to Google Maps, shows some of the Brooklyn live poultry locations.
Cluck. Cluck. Cluck.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Gary // Jul 11, 2006 at 10:23 am
Interesting news. On a related note, here’s a picture I took Sunday:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gkjarvis/185835300/
2 mfs // Jul 12, 2006 at 12:28 pm
i’m less worried about catching avian flu from live poultry brought into and sold in the city than I am about the 8 million people I’m packed shoulder to shoulder with, a significant percentage of which must have gone on international trips recently.
It’s also a lot less likely that avian flu would be passed along in the tiny bird shops. More likely it would happen in the chicken sheds elsewhere in the country that are up to 1/2 mile long.