Comparing traditional surveys and web-scraped data to understand the pigeon racing industry in Southern California.

Recent outbreaks of virulent Newcastle disease (vND) in domestic poultry in Southern California have raised questions as to the source(s) and the mode(s) of transmission. While pigeons have been found to be capable of transmitting a variant of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) known as Pigeon paramyxovirus-1 (PPMV-1) to other avian species including poultry, the potential geographic distribution and scope of transmission from racing pigeons to other domestic poultry in Southern California is poorly understood. In order to better understand the potential risk of transmission of vND from racing pigeons to domestic poultry, an extension-initiated survey was conducted in addition to social-media based analysis of racing pigeon activity associated with postings on a web-based popular classified advertisement (CAW) in Southern California.