Heatwave Kills Thousands Of Calif. Turkeys

FRESNO- A summer heat wave killed off tens of thousands of turkeys for the second year in a row, creating fears of a public health threat from the birds' undisposed carcasses.About 100,000 birds died in the central San Joaquin Valley after temperatures climbed last week, reaching 111 degrees in Fresno. A significant number of deaths occurred on poultry farms associated with Fresno-based Zacky Farms Inc.Officials in Fresno County, where more than 50,000 turkeys died, declared a local emergency and opened a county landfill to bury about 100 tons of turkey carcasses-a practice usually outlawed because of health risks.Authorities said they saw no alternative after the farm's owner, Richard Zacky, called to say he had no place to dispose of 20 truckloads of dead turkeys.Had the carcasses been left to rot, they could have attracted flies and rodents and potentially exposed people to disease, county spokeswoman Gayle Surabian said.Last summer, a heat wave killed about a million chickens and turkeys and more than 30,000 cows and calves statewide.Fresno County produced 3.6 million turkeys last year, giving it the second-highest rate of turkey production in the state after Merced County.
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