As residents in Gulfport, Miss., struggle with the immensity of the destruction, the entire hurricane-ravaged region has been declared a federal health emergency.

The National Guard went out on Thursday to pick up the chicken.

Rotting away in plastic packages strewn all over the west side of Gulfport, bearing who knows what diseases, the chicken – 40 tons of it – is one of the more unusual public health concerns facing the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Read (New York Times)