September 11, 2006

Indonesia to consider culling of fowls by force

As the number of bird flu cases continue to escalate in different regions of  Indonesia, with some tripling within the last year as in the case of West Java, authorities are cracking down hard on those who refuse to surrender their bird-flu infected fowls.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Saturday (Sep 9) authorities would use force to cull bird-flu infected flu poultry if poultry-owners do not co-operate.

Local authorities are empowered under the Law on Prevention of Contagious Diseases to force people to surrender their fowls to be culled.

Indonesia is mobilising military personnel in bird flu prone areas in the country to cull fowls by force if breeders refused to give up their fowls.

A total of 62 bird flu cases in humans had been confirmed in Indonesia and 47 of the sufferers had died.