February 1, 2007

 

Indonesia claims anti-bird flu measure's success in Jakarta

 

Indonesia claimed a major victory in the fight against bird flu Thursday, saying the heart of the capital had been cleared of backyard fowl and that residents elsewhere were handing in chickens for slaughter.

 

Poultry could still be seen roaming freely in suburban neighborhoods and some people hid pet birds in their homes, raising doubts the campaign would prevent further human deaths in the country hardest hit by the virus.

 

"I can guarantee there are no backyard birds in central Jakarta," said Muhayat, the mayor of central Jakarta, who uses a single name. "The people here are now fully aware of the disease and voluntarily culled their birds."

 

Indonesia has tallied 63 human deaths from bird flu, more than a third of the world's total. It has come under criticism for failing to crack down on bird flu when it first appeared in poultry stocks nearly four years ago, but has since taken more concerted steps to stamp out H5N1.

 

The head of Jakarta's Animal Husbandry Department, Edi Sutiarto, said Wednesday more than 100,000 domestic chickens, racing pigeons and ducks had been slaughtered by their owners in recent weeks, but that is only a tenth of the estimated number in the capital.

 

The virus is now endemic in chicken flocks almost nationwide and, despite optimism late last year that it may have been contained, it killed six people in the past month.

 

"It has become an epidemic," Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta said Wednesday. "The president has indicated he will declare it a national disaster so money can be allocated from the state budget's disaster fund."

 

The effectiveness of the slaughter campaign remains to be seen, however, with some residents hiding their birds and fears that corrupt officials will be susceptible to bribes. The crackdown will also have to reach well beyond the capital.

 

Past efforts to carry out mass slaughters have failed in part because the cash-strapped government said it could not afford to compensate bird owners.

 

Bird flu remains hard for humans to catch. But international experts fear it may mutate into a form that could spread easily between humans and potentially kill millions around the world.