Ragunan to reopen for public next week

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Ragunan Zoo officials say the complex will reopen to the public on Tuesday after the Ministry of Agriculture's Veterinary Agency declared the 140-hectare compound free from bird flu.

"There will be a press conference by the Ministry of Agriculture at the zoo on Monday, and Ragunan Zoo will be reopened to the public on Tuesday," spokeswoman Titisari told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The announcement came a day after another suspected bird flu victim died at the Sulianti Saroso Hospital in Sunter, North Jakarta. Test samples from the victim would now be sent to a World Health Organization-certified laboratory in Hong Kong. WHO has confirmed three fatalities in the country from bird flu.

Ragunan Zoo was forced to close on Sept. 19 after 19 birds in its aviary tested positive with avian influenza.

Titisari said the zoo has taken steps to prevent the virus from spreading by spraying animals' cages with disinfectant twice a day, and medicating animals with anti-viral drugs, multivitamins and minerals.

The Ministry of Health's Research and Development Department declared the zoo's 250 employees free from the HN51 strain of the bird flu virus, zoo head of conservation Bambang Priyatna said.

"The WHO (World Health Organization) -- who visited us on Oct. 5 -- has also declared that our handling of the bird flu breakout in Ragunan was in line with its standard operating procedures," Bambang said as quoted by Detikcom on Friday.

Titisari said that the zoo's health clinic would continue to monitor employees' body temperatures and health after reopening to ensure they were not infected later on.

"There's no need for visitors to worry," she said.