Neighbors asked to cull birds

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the last few days, Dewi, 36, a resident of a luxury housing complex in Sunter, North Jakarta, has been very worried that her neighbor's birds may have been infected with avian flu virus, and that it might spread to her family.

"If we watch TV nowadays, who would not be scared of bird flu? Especially, when one of your close neighbors has many birds in his house. I have asked the municipal husbandry agency to check the birds," she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

She said that if the birds tested positive, she would ask the authorities to slaughter them although the birds, including pigeons and doves, were very expensive as they were kept for bird races.

A woman from the neighboring Sunter Jaya housing area who had bird flu symptoms died last week.

The Ministry of Health had not yet received confirmation from the WHO-sanctioned laboratory in Hong Kong that the woman died of bird flu.

Checking on the neighborhood of the deceased, the husbandry agency found that at least eight pet birds had bird flu.

The agency slaughtered on Tuesday 45 pigeons, turtle doves and doves, including the infected ones, to prevent the virus from spreading.

Head of North Jakarta husbandry agency, Riana Faiza, said that Dewi was not the only one who had lodged a complaint and demanded that all birds in the area be culled without conducting tests beforehand.

"Many of them have asked us to kill their neighbors' birds because they are very afraid that the birds are carrying the bird flu virus. However, we can't just slaughter someone's birds before conducting tests," she told the Post.

Riana said most of the bird owners refused to let the agency touch their pets, which may be worth millions of rupiah each.

"We can't force them because we have no law prohibiting people from keeping birds. Some birds are even worth over Rp 100 million. If we slaughter the bird and the owners ask us to provide compensation, where will we find the money from to pay them?" Riana said.

Riana said that many of the residents, especially those who lived near the bird market, had asked her office to close the market.

Meanwhile, head of the animal health division at the Jakarta Husbandry Agency, Adnan Ahmad, said that city administration would deploy more surveillance teams to check pet birds and chickens in neighborhoods across the city.

"We have checked over 1,000 birds and chickens in the city. So far, several birds and chickens in four neighborhoods have tested positive for bird flu. We plan to check more in many other areas," he told the Post.