[Taxacom] Cannibalistic offal (in nature); is such offal awful?

[Kenneth Kinman]

Hi All,
     Sorry about the blank response (I accidently  hit the wrong
button).  Anyway, I think that indirect cannibalism is probably far less
of a problem, as protective mechamisms are more likely to kick in during
two predatory steps than just one (digestive acids might not fully
resolve the infection in the first step, but then catch it in the next
predators digestive tract).      
      Any way, hippos directly eating hippos seems an extremely unusual
case in nature.  Similarly (but unnaturally), chickens eating chicken
offal meal (dead chicken offal, feathers, etc.) or cows eating cow offal
provides a direct means of transmission for disease which is mainly the
result of human stupidity and greed in the setting of massive industrial
farming of animals (something which has only become a major problem in
recent decades).  
             -------Ken