An excellent opinion piece in The New York Times by Sonia Shah, author of “Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond” provides a first hand look at Asian poultry markets and tracks how rare mutations of the Avian Flu virus are making their way to America providing the breeding ground for the next global pandemic. This is important reading for everyone, but especially for backyard chicken lovers. There are things we can, and should, do to protect our beloved birds, ourselves, and our communities before it is too late.