Bird flu prompts market chicken cull

December 21, 2011

More than 17,000 chickens will be culled at the Cheung Sha Wan Temporary Wholesale Poultry Market today after a chicken carcass there tested positive for the H5N1 avian influenza virus. The market will be closed until January 12.
 
The Director of Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation declared the market an infected place after Secretary for Food & Health Dr York Chow raised the response level for bird flu to ‘serious’ from ‘alert’ after the discovery of the virus in the carcass yesterday.
 
Local farms are stopped from sending chickens to the market for 21 days. The Agriculture, Fisheries & Conservation department will step up farm inspections and collect more samples for tests.
 
The Government is tracing the source of the carcass and it is not known whether the chicken was from a local farm or imported.
 
All 30 chicken farms were inspected yesterday. No abnormality was detected. Lie poultry imports including day-old chicks are suspended for 21 days. Mainland authorities say no abnormality has been found at registered live poultry farms.
 
“It is unfortunate that an avian influenza case is detected before the winter solstice, necessitating a halt to the supply of live chickens. I understand that it will cause inconvenience to the public, and the poultry trade will also encounter losses,” Dr Chow said.
 
“However, to safeguard public health, we need to adopt decisive and effective measures to prevent and control the spread of the virus.”