![]() BRADLEY: They were astounding with the tonnage of chicken feed that sold on a weekly basis.ĭr. How many are there, for instance? Researchers once tried to calculate local numbers from chicken feeds sales in San Francisco.ĭr. But it's hard to know about backyard chickens. A lot of experts think that bird flu will spread to backyard chickens, or back balcony chickens for that matter, from wild birds, and that it will take off from there. They lived in condominiums and they would keep two chickens in a cage on the balcony of their condominium.ĬHADWICK: Birds. BRADLEY: I've had clubs in downtown Oakland - we called them the condo chicken kids. FRANCINE BRADLEY (Poultry Specialist, University of California, Davis): Many years ago every county had a poultry farm advisor and I'm the one poultry specialist left in California.ĬHADWICK: She'll swat a word for emphasis or pause sometimes in the strained, patience of someone often misunderstood. Here, on phantom front lines, Francine Bradley is an army of one.ĭr. But don't panic yet.ĬHADWICK: If we do wind up in a battle with bird flu, it's probably going to start in a place like Fontana, near the desert edge on the vast grid cluster of Southern California. And with chickens somewhere is practically everywhere. And a White House report out this week warns that if the virus evolves so humans can pass it on, millions might die.īRAND: Many experts say migrating birds will bring the flu to this country soon, probably by infecting a flock of backyard chickens somewhere. At a conference in Singapore, an American researcher said the current virus is the worst he's ever seen. There is more frightening news about bird flu. (SOUNDBITE OF DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND'S "BLACKBIRD SPECIAL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.This is DAY TO DAY. REEVES: Eventually Uncle Marco waves his crutch aloft and leads the party in a slow parade down the street followed by a car loaded with ice-cold beer to lure out those inner chickens. REEVES: And a crowd slowly gathers, about a thousand in all, beneath the setting sun with wigs, hats and tutus, ready to release a year's worth of tension. ![]() REEVES: Fireworks signal the street party's about to start. REEVES: "If that's what you'd like," he says. REEVES: I ask Uncle Marco if it'd be OK to release that inner chicken at the party. UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing in Portuguese). They seem to know the bloco's song by heart. This hasn't stopped him leading the street party. He's 63 and walks with a crutch because of a stroke a few years back. The party is called Uncle Marco's bloco after one of the founders, Marco Nepomuceno. Here in Piedade, she has uncles, aunts and cousins. REEVES: Rodrigues says she misses her family terribly. They can't afford a house around here, so they live in a rough part of town more than one hour away. ![]() She says her husband's a taxi driver whose incomes dropped sharply because of competition from Uber. There was joy - she had her second baby - but also worry. This is the moment when everyone's happy." The past year wasn't easy for her. REEVES: "I'm going to let out my inner chicken," says Rodrigues. Milena Rodrigues went to the first when she was a baby and has never missed one. They've held one on this street for the past 27 years. Residents here are preparing for their party. Its low-lying homes and scuffed-up streets have the weary look of a place struggling to get by. We've come to Piedade, a suburb of northern Rio. Yet for many, Carnival's more about releasing tensions created by personal battles in daily life. Last year was tough here thanks to a stubborn recession, a massive corruption scandal and a surge in violent crime. REEVES: Brazilians tend to see Carnival as the moment that marks the end of one year and the start of another. Every few yards someone's selling ice-cold cans of beer to help lure out those chickens. There are kings and clerics, pirates and nymphs, dancing rabbits and emperors with almost no clothes. This is one of the city's hundreds of street parties, or blocos, held during Carnival season. We're in Rio in a bohemian neighborhood called Lapa. REEVES: Chickens are certainly coming out here. UNIDENTIFIED SINGER: (Singing in Portuguese). It's the chicken inside you that makes you moonwalk at a wedding party when you don't know how - that chicken. They have a phrase for this - soltar a franga, to release the inner chicken. PHILIP REEVES, BYLINE: Brazilians say Carnival is about dropping your inhibitions and letting your emotions out. Phil says if you want to really understand what it's about, you have to hit the streets. It's Carnival time in Brazil, and NPR's Philip Reeves says there's more to it than the annual parades and costumes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |