For the first time, the H5N1 bird flu has been found in US dairy cows. That’s not great. As a result, health experts have increased their warnings against drinking raw milk. It’s not going well.

The California-based Raw Milk Institute called the warnings “clearly fearmongering.” The institute’s founder, Mark McAfee, told the Los Angeles Times this weekend that his customers are, in fact, specifically requesting raw milk from H5N1-infected cows.

According to McAfee, his customers believe, without evidence, that directly drinking high levels of the avian influenza virus will give them immunity to the deadly pathogen.

No longer being alive certainly would afford a type of immunity.

But no, no, I’m sure the people who like drinking raw milk for its unproven health benefits fully understand what they’re doing. They’ve got an institute, after all.

With the virus apparently having a field day in cows’ udders, researchers have found raw milk to be brimming with high levels of H5N1 viral particles—and those particles appear readily capable of spilling over to other mammals. In a case study last month, researchers reported that a group of about two dozen farm cats developed severe illness after drinking milk from H5N1-infected cows. Some developed severe neurological symptoms. More than half of the cats died in a matter of days.

They know more than some dumb, dead cats, at least.