Cirebon city locked down over bird flu outbreak

Cirebon city locked down over bird flu outbreak

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon/Pekanbaru

Following the uncontrolled spread of bird flu, West Java
authorities have stopped all poultry traffic into the area to
prevent the problem from getting worse after the disease hit
poultry farms in the province, an official said on Wednesday.

The isolation of Cirebon, which has been declared an epidemic
area of bird flu in West Java, is expected to prevent a further
spread of the disease, which has also hit several other regencies
in Central Java.

The poultry-check operation was held in the Losari area, which
is in the border and main route of poultry trucks from Central
Java, Yogyakarta and East Java.

The operation is targeting chickens, quails and ducks coming
from other affected areas in West Java, such as Sukabumi,
Indramayu and Ciamis.

Head of animal husbandry division at Cirebon's Agriculture and
Marine Office, Maharani Dewi, said the provincial administration
had requested the Cirebon city administration to increase control
in its border areas to prevent a further spread of bird flu, or
avian influenza.

"The operation has been going on for a week and will end on
April 5. After that we'll evaluate whether to continue or stop
the operation," said Maharani.

She also claimed that since the operation began, no new cases
of bird flu, from West Java or outside the province, had been
found.

Tens of thousands of quails owned by poultry breeders in
Cirebon city have died as a result of bird flu this year.

"The bird flu has put many breeders out of business, with
losses estimated in billions of rupiah," she said.

No bird flu cases were reported in Cirebon last year, when the
country was hit by another bird flu outbreak.

Maharani added that the bird flu cases in Cirebon came from
outside the city. "We suspect that bird flu came from another
city because all of the destroyed quails were from Sleman
(Yogyakarta)," Maharani said.

Riau province meanwhile, which is still reportedly free of
bird flu, is on alert of possible entry of infected poultry
products into the province.

Head of the Riau husbandry office, Agus Tarudin, said on
Wednesday that his office had instructed officials across the
province to stay alert over all poultry products to prevent the
disease from entering the province.

"We have also been working together with the quarantine bureau
at the airport and seaports to improve control," Agus said.

He said that companies distributing poultry products would be
held responsible if their products were proven to cause bird flu.

He also praised the Riau people in their response to the bird
flu last year. When Riau was hit last year, chicken prices
plummeted to Rp 2,500 per kilogram.

"People here are not easily influenced by the bird flu scare
and still consume chicken or eggs," Agus said.