West Nile Continues, But Precautions Help Hunters
October 1, 2002
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
With the end of mosquito season still weeks away, more than 1,000 cases of West Nile virus (WNV) already have been reported, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported on Sept. 10, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As of Sept. 10, there have been 1,086 cases of the mosquito-borne illness—including 45 deaths—reported to the Atlanta-based CDC by 30 states and the District of Columbia.
The new total exceeds estimates health authorities made less than a month earlier—that 1,000 people would become infected with the disease—and gives an additional indication of how the unpredictable virus has accelerated in its trip across the country.
There was further evidence that WNV is behaving in unexpected ways: Illinois emerged as the new center of the epidemic, recording 268 cases and 10 deaths, compared with 222 cases and nine deaths so far in Louisiana, up until now this year’s hot spot.
Because hunters, especially those engaged in early dove, waterfowl and upland game seasons will be exposed to the virus, the CDC and state game officials are offering recommendations on proper precautions to take afield, and reassuring hunters about the game they harvest.
Simple Precautions
The CDC reports that less than 1% of persons infected with WNV will develop serious illness, with those at highest risk being the elderly or people with weakened immune systems. While there is no specific treatment for the disease, avoiding mosquitoes and taking some basic precautions are the best ways to lower risks.
Hunters should use mosquito repellent containing DEET, wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants, avoid shooting birds or other game that display erratic behavior (infected birds do not like to fly or may be flying very low), wear rubber gloves while cleaning and handling birds and game meat, and thoroughly cook the meat. When using a tree stand, or hunting from brush, consider wearing a head net with a fine mosquito mesh.
The CDC reports no evidence of the public getting West Nile virus from handling live or dead birds. The disease appears to be spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. However, taking the simple precautions mentioned above should allay any fears some hunters may have until cold weather ends mosquito activity.
While global efforts to disarm citizens of almost every country continue, it is interesting to note how the leaders of several nations are pushing their gun control agendas.
Suspiciously-elected Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe recently granted amnesty to illegal firearm owners who surrender their arms in the next 90 days, national newspapers in that country reported on Sept. 10.
The order came into effect on the publication of the latest government gazette.
“During the period, every person having possession of any firearm or ammunition in contravention of the Firearms Act and any other law shall surrender such firearm or ammunition to a police officer at any station, which such firearm or ammunition shall, subject to section 4 become the property of the state,” read part of the order.
The order is cited as clemency order number 2 of 2002: “Amnesty in respect of unlawfully held weapons.” The firearms and ammunition covered by the amnesty order include fully automatic machine pistols, submachineguns or rifles, fully automatic rifles that have been converted into semi-automatic rifles, and semi-automatic rifles that are convertible into fully automatic rifles.
Also included in the amnesty were any bombs, grenades or missile devices, whether capable of use with firearm or not, including any fuse, detonator or timing device and any low or high explosives.
But the order states that during the same period police would still retain their powers to arrest and confiscate illegal firearms from suspects who do not surrender any licensable firearms illegally in their possession.
UN Albania Buy-Up
Meanwhile, in Albania, local officials—with the help of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)—have come up with a novel way to encourage people to turn in their guns. This time, the offer in the village commune of Ndrog, as reported by Associated Press, is better than the $50 cash, entertainment tickets, shoes and shopping certificates as tried in US gun buy-ups. In fact, it may be an offer the villagers couldn’t refuse: Turn in their illegal arms in exchange for a better water supply.
And it apparently worked, after a fashion. Villagers were still handing in guns, ammunition and explosives well after the Aug. 4 deadline expired. Their reward: amnesty, plus $50,000 worth of new pipes and pumps to improve the commune’s leaky water supply network.
“People were surprised that handing over the arms could bring money,” said Fatime Goga, who heads the Ndroq commune, a cluster of 13 villages and their 10,000 people just west of the Albanian capital of Tirana.
It’s a novel approach to getting Albanians to part with the hundreds of thousands of small arms stolen by ordinary citizens in widespread looting that followed the collapse of pyramid schemes in 1997. Enraged after losing their life savings, scores of Albanians took to the streets, raiding army depots and plunging Europe’s poorest country into anarchy.
Five years later, those arms remain a legacy of the period of unrest. An estimated 550,000 small arms, 839 million rounds of ammunition and 16 million explosive devices vanished in the looting, the Public Order Ministry estimated.
As many as 150,000 arms are believed to have been spirited out of Albania and into the hands of ethnic Albanian militants fighting in neighboring Kosovo and Macedonia.
Although Albania’s government has collected about 200,000 guns and significant amounts of other ordnance, police say at least 200,000 other arms and countless rounds of ammunition remain in private hands.
Officials concede it hasn’t been easy getting Albanians to part with all that firepower, even though it’s against the law for most citizens to own anything more powerful than a hunting rifle, and even those must be officially registered.
“Up until 1999, only 16,000 weapons were collected,” said Todi Grazhdani, who oversaw a nationwide arms-collection effort that at one point involved 250 officers.
Grazhdani said the task force did what it could to recover arms, including carrying out house-to-house gun checks that subjected citizens in possession of illegal arms or ammunition to prosecution and up to seven years’ imprisonment if convicted.
But for Grazhdani, police crackdowns weren’t the answer.
Civil Disobedience
“One could hardly imprison 200,000 Albanians with weapons,” he told Associated Press. “The government should reconsider either postponement of the voluntarily handover time, or find other ways like partial amnesties.”
Enter the UN Development Program, which has hit on cash as a compelling carrot for disarmament.
Since 2000, the UNDP has been running two programs in eight Albanian districts, doling out more than $3 million in aid in exchange for arms. Project spokesman Gert Guri said the UNDP is working with the government to find other innovative ways of coaxing the citizenry to disarm.
Most commune residents are cautious about turning in their guns—especially small arms such as pistols, which are easy to hide.
“Keeping it buried somewhere won’t hurt anyone,” a teenager who gave his name only as Agim said at a coffee bar in Ndroq. “I may need it someday to take care of myself and my family.”
Goga, the top Ndroq official, thinks even more people would drop off weapons if the government would extend the deadline and offer more investment money. Ndroq still needs another $50,000 to completely repair its water system, she said.
One has to wonder: how much money will the UN have to come up with to effectuate their global gun control scheme.
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