Indonesia: Mass Cull

[hawkeye]

Indonesian Authorities Order Mass Fowl Slaughter to Address Bird Flu Outbreak

Friday, January 19, 2007

JAKARTA, Indonesia ? Residents handed over hundreds of chickens and other fowl for slaughter Friday as authorities in Indonesia's capital scrambled to stop the spread of bird flu after a spike in human deaths.

They were surrendering their birds before a Feb. 1 deadline after which the Jakarta governor has said officials will go door-to-door confiscating fowl in a plan to rid its teeming streets of backyard chickens.

"Bird flu is a frightening diseases because the survival rate is so low and so I am asking all people to take steps to minimize the danger," said Governor Sutiyoso, who goes by a single name. "Starting on Feb. 1, I will show no tolerance."

The birds handed over Friday in a poor district of eastern Jakarta had not been tested for bird flu and were believed to be healthy. They were slaughtered and then placed in a hole in the ground before being set alight.

Indonesia has seen 61 human bird flu deaths since 2004, the most in the world. Four people have died in Jakarta so far this year.

Indonesia has come under fire for failing to make adequate efforts to fight H5N1 and has largely failed to follow through on earlier promises to stamp out the virus through mass culls.

 

[hawkeye]

Re: Indonesia: Mass Cull

Indonesian capital's bird cull gets mixed reaction
19 Jan 2007 05:44:28 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Heru Asprihanto

JAKARTA, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A campaign to rid the Indonesian capital of backyard fowl to fight bird flu got a mixed reaction from residents on Friday, with some welcoming it while others worried about losing a key source of income.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso set fire to about about 1,600 chickens, ducks and pigeons that had been slaughtered and dumped into a pit overnight in a densely populated neighbourhood.

Some residents responded with cheers of "Hurray!" at the launch of the campaign, although the culled birds were not known to have been infected by bird flu.

Sutiyoso told city residents on Wednesday their backyard fowl would be confiscated and destroyed if they failed to get rid of the birds by the end of the month.

The move follows the deaths of four people in Jakarta and its surrounding areas since the start of the year, taking the number of confirmed human deaths from the virus in Indonesia to 61, the highest in the world.

"We support the government's programme. It's better to do this than worrying about being infected," resident Andai Sihombing said.

But some residents were worried about the cost. Many people in Indonesia keep poultry to supplement their meagre incomes.

"The programme is good but how can we eat eggs but not chicken?" she asked.

Ade Darmadi, a trader at a nearby bird market, said he had not sold a single bird since the governor announced the ban.

He said even though traders like him could still sell birds, traders and owners would need to get a clean bill of health for birds from authorities. This could discourage buyers.

"I hope officials can be present here to facilitate the certification," he said.

Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari on Thursday said the ban in Jakarta would be extended to eight other provinces that had reported human infections of the H5N1 bird flu virus.

More than a dozen people have been admitted to hospital with bird flu-like symptoms since the start of the year, although many have been discharged or tested negative for the virus.

Indonesia faces an uphill task controlling the disease. Millions of backyard fowl live in close proximity to humans and health education campaigns have often been patchy and rules difficult to enforce.

Illustrating this, chickens roam freely just a few minutes walk from the capital's central business district.

Official calls for culling have also met stiff resistance in the past due to meagre compensation and difficulties enforcing rules in the provinces.

Officials said poultry owners would be paid compensation of 12,500 rupiah ($1.4) for each sick bird killed. A fully grown chicken costs about 35,000 rupiah in Jakarta.

The governor said on Wednesday there would be no payment for healthy birds. ($1 = 9,096 rupiah)