51¶¯Âþ

Canada’s sentinel chickens will be retired from duty after health authorities
discovered that the mosquito that carries West Nile virus doesn’t like the
birds. The chickens had been deployed along the border with the US to act as an
early warning system for the virus, which causes flu-like symptoms in humans and
can be fatal
(51¶¯Âþ, 20 May 2000, p 7).
But Health Canada
officials have announced they are standing the birds down after studies last
year found chickens are rarely infected. Canada will instead test dead wild
birds to monitor the disease, which hasn’t yet been found in the country.