Sobering News from Hong Kong: Dead Birds Found at Equestrian Games Site

The horses are arriving at the Olympic equestrian games venue at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong, as planeload after planeload of dressage horses, show jumpers and super-fit eventers rumble down the ramps and onto air-conditioned vans for transport to the stables.

But the Associated Press is issuing a news alert that two dead birds have been found at the competition site. And dead birds in Hong Kong are never good news.

Hong Kong has been one of the sites of the dreaded disease known as "bird flu", and it is feared that the H5N1 virus, a.k.a. bird flu, is the cause of the dead birds. Six people died in Hong Kong in the worst bird flu outbreak, back in 1997.

Bird flu is not believed to be a danger to horses, but it would pose a risk to riders, staff, and spectators. I will keep you posted on more news about this potentially alarming news from Hong Kong.

Hong Kong authorities had previously said that if there was an outbreak of bird flu, the equestrian events would be cancelled.

More than 300 human doctors and 1,000 medical staff will be on hand for the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events, with an onsite medical team and ambulances standing by during the events.

The equestrian events were moved from Beijing to Hong Kong out of concern for the health of the horses because of the prevalence of contagious equine diseases on mainland China.

Hong Kong is blanketed in thick smog today, with greatly reduced visibility. Air quality is poor. A typhoon passed north of the island, causing great damage to Taiwan.

But spirits are high. Dressage superstar Anky van Grunsven of Holland has already been in the saddle, riding both indoors in the air-conditioned training arena, and outdoors as well.