In TFA, the quoted epidemiologist says not to call it zombie disease because that trivializes the issue. Perhaps zombie serves uses as cute/fictional and scary sounding.
While we're being precise, we might do well to not to assume that apparently poisoned animals actually fell ill to a contagious disease.
IMO, the Guardian piece trivializes a real potential environmental hazard issue, and chalks it up to an unproven contagious disease. There's been a lot of research along these lines, which I don't see mentioned at all. Maybe the epidemiologist and the Guardian are falling into the ol' zombie trap, themselves!
While we're being precise, we might do well to not to assume that apparently poisoned animals actually fell ill to a contagious disease.
IMO, the Guardian piece trivializes a real potential environmental hazard issue, and chalks it up to an unproven contagious disease. There's been a lot of research along these lines, which I don't see mentioned at all. Maybe the epidemiologist and the Guardian are falling into the ol' zombie trap, themselves!