Iraqi Officials to Kill Zoo Animals to Protect Against Swine Flu

In an example of colossal stupidity, Iraqi officials have called for the killing of the three wild boars in the Baghdad zoo to protect the country against swine flu. This comes on the heals of the Egyptian government moving to kill every pig in the country despite the lack of any evidence that it would help prevent the virus, which passes from human to human.

The Iraqis seem to blame the eating of pork, an emerging view among some Muslim clerics. Regional health minister Abdul Rahman Osman said “It is also possible the disease could be spread by eating pork, so we banned hunting wild boars.”

In the meantime, the Egyptian plan to kill every pigs in the country adopts an almost biblical approach to health care. Various groups have ridiculed the measure as unconnected to any scientific basis.
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