CHINA: 20,00 CHICKENS SLAUGHTER AS BIRD FLU CASES ARE SUSPECTED

Record ID: 278350

  • Title: CHINA: 20,00 CHICKENS SLAUGHTER AS BIRD FLU CASES ARE SUSPECTED
  • Date: 31st January 2004
  • Summary: SHANGHAI, CHINA (JANUARY 31, 2004) (REUTERS) WIDE OF SKY SCRAPER AND METRO STATION SLV SKYSCRAPER SLV PEOPLE WALKING INTO UNDERGROUND STATION WIDE OF MAN FLYING KITE IN FRONT OF SKYSCRAPER SLV EXTERIOR OF CHICKEN FARM IN HENG GAI VILLAGE IN NANHUI DISTRICT CLOSE OF BURNING CHICKEN FEATHERS AND CHICKEN EXCRETA OUTSIDE FARM VARIOUS OF EMPTY CHICKEN RUNS CLOSE OF CHICKEN EXCR
  • Embargoed: 15th February 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SHANGHAI, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Health,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAAT5HA9XAA1PM7JGQVINU8THPM
  • Story Text: China's bustling financial capital Shanghai slaughters 20,000 chickens after the city's first suspected cases of bird flu are reported.
    On the outskirts of Shanghai on Saturday (January 31) small farmers were picking up the pieces a day after the city reported a suspected bird flu outbreak.
    On Friday (January 30), teams of inspectors descended on villages and markets without warning, seizing tens of thousands of fowl, spraying, disinfectant and burning piles of bird dung.
    Chicken and duck farms were cleared out, leaving farmers empty-handed. On Saturday, residents of the Nanhui district, the scene of the suspected outbreak, complained of heavy handed officials who grabbed chickens without mentioning compensation.
    At least 20,000 chickens were culled in a single day at the Sanguantang Fowl and Egg Market, Shanghai's largest wholesale poultry trading station.
    Bird flu outbreaks have now been confirmed in three Chinese provinces, with another two provinces awaiting test results on suspected cases.
    The disease has swept the Asia region, killing at least eight people and forcing authorities to slaughter millions of chickens.
    The World Health Organisation on Saturday warned that China's window of opportunity to stop the spread of bird flu was narrowing.
    Controlling outbreaks in China, expected to produce some 10.1 million tonnes of poultry in 2004, is worrying health experts because nearly four out of five chickens, ducks and other fowl are raised on household farms, where peasants live in close proximity with their animals.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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