November 2, 2005

Malaysian villagers ignore bird flu by smuggling from Indonesia
 

Malaysian villagers on Borneo island were smuggling pet birds and fighting cocks from neighboring Indonesia, despite a government ban meant to keep the country free of bird flu, a news report said Wednesday.

Veterinary authorities in Malaysia's eastern Sarawak state - which shares an extensive land border with Indonesia's Kalimantan province - would cull smuggled birds and any local poultry that had contact with them, Sarawak's deputy chief minister George Chan told The Star newspaper.

"Pet birds and fighting cocks are being smuggled across the border at illegal entry points," Chan said. "We have already given a lot of advice to the people near the border, but the dangers of disregarding the ban do not seem to matter to some of them."

Chan did not elaborate on how many offenses have been detected. A spokesperson for his office and Sarawak's veterinary department could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sarawak imposed a ban on birds from Indonesia last month. People caught smuggling poultry faced up to two years' imprisonment and maximum fines of RM5,000 (about US$1,351).

So far, no humans have been known to be infected with bird flu in Malaysia, which suffered an outbreak in poultry in a northern state last year, believed to be sparked by fighting cocks smuggled from Thailand. Malaysia declared itself free of bird flu in January this year.

The virus has killed four people and sickened three others in Indonesia, and has taken at least 62 lives across Asia since late 2003.