State: Cockfighting Increases Bird Flu Threat, by Shae Crisson

(03/14/06 -- RALEIGH) - A popular Latino tradition is raising concerns about bird flu here in North Carolina.

Cockfighting is illegal. The birds are smuggled in and now health officials are worried they could be bringing a possible pandemic with them.

Birds found in an illegal cockfighting ring recently were brought to Wilson County from Guam, the sheriff says. Video of the fight shows the battle getting bloody. Handlers grab the birds without gloves. One man puts his mouth over the bird's head several times to revive him for many more rounds.

It is a very easy way that bird flu could spread. If one of the birds is infected, the virus could easily spread from bird to bird - - and bird to human. If the handler works on a poultry farm, which many of these men do, he would bring the virus to the farm infecting thousands of other birds.