Comments on: Brain-Eating Crows May Help Spread Prion Diseases http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/10/brain-eating-crows-may-help-spread-prion-diseases/ Keeping You Current Tue, 21 May 2013 01:58:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4 By: Anne Clark http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/10/brain-eating-crows-may-help-spread-prion-diseases/comment-page-1/#comment-4784 Anne Clark Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:27:42 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/?p=5941#comment-4784 This blog post and its rather inflammatory ending statement is just plain irresponsible. There is so much misinformation on crows that to act as if they have now been demonstrated as major transmitter of prion diseases is just a layman-type twisting of facts and conclusions. The science demonstrated that prions can make it through the avian digestive tract. Crows make migratory movements and scavenge. OK. There are so many other routes to moving prion diseases. Coyotes, foxes, dogs, vultures...hey, what about vultures? They are migratory and form big roosts. And what about sewage sludge? Humans are almost certainly capable of transmitting prions through their digestive tracts. Crows eat more insects than mice. They cannot break into the brains of dead deer without help. Come on...let's get this story straight. This article and the media have simply managed to pick up the indestructible prion of "black crows/ravens are evil!". And Smithsonian of all places is now spreading it. I had expected better of Smithsonian and its associated bloggers. This blog post and its rather inflammatory ending statement is just plain irresponsible. There is so much misinformation on crows that to act as if they have now been demonstrated as major transmitter of prion diseases is just a layman-type twisting of facts and conclusions. The science demonstrated that prions can make it through the avian digestive tract. Crows make migratory movements and scavenge. OK. There are so many other routes to moving prion diseases. Coyotes, foxes, dogs, vultures…hey, what about vultures? They are migratory and form big roosts. And what about sewage sludge? Humans are almost certainly capable of transmitting prions through their digestive tracts. Crows eat more insects than mice. They cannot break into the brains of dead deer without help. Come on…let’s get this story straight.

This article and the media have simply managed to pick up the indestructible prion of “black crows/ravens are evil!”. And Smithsonian of all places is now spreading it. I had expected better of Smithsonian and its associated bloggers.

]]> By: Henry Valdez http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/2012/10/brain-eating-crows-may-help-spread-prion-diseases/comment-page-1/#comment-1382 Henry Valdez Fri, 19 Oct 2012 23:10:37 +0000 http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews/?p=5941#comment-1382 Hel anyone who plays resident evil knows that crows are the first thing you watch out for, but at the same time this article may cause anyone with a gun and no brains to start murdering murders just so they feel safe. (murders are flocks of crows for those who don't know Hel anyone who plays resident evil knows that crows are the first thing you watch out for, but at the same time this article may cause anyone with a gun and no brains to start murdering murders just so they feel safe. (murders are flocks of crows for those who don’t know

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