National

Water Birds and Water Fowls Suspected to Be Carriers of Bird Flu
Tuesday, 27 September, 2005 | 12:07 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Indonesian Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriantono has said that water birds and water fowls are strongly suspected to be the carriers of the bird flu virus because they both have no resistance.

“This is where our suspicions currently lie,” stated Apriantono in Bandung, West Java, on Monday (26/09).

Apriantono explained that most areas in Indonesia were still safe from the spread of the bird flu virus, apart from Java, South Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Jambi and Lampung.

“If there is an endemic on Java, we will have to be very careful,” he said.

According to Apriantono, the agriculture department also suspects that the carrier of the bird flu virus to humans does not come from poultry farming.

Based on existing data, he explained, there were yet to be any reports of poultry dying because of the bird flu virus.

Regarding the plan to relocate poultry farms outside residential areas, Apriantono said that he was preparing implementation guidelines for local governments.

“The implementation shall be at the authority of the local governments concerned. We will only provide the guidelines,” stated Apriantono.

The principles of the implementation guidelines include a ban on farms in the middle of residential areas as well as a ban on mixing animals in farms.

“For example, mixing poultry raising and pig farming. We cannot allow that,” stated Apriantono. (Ahmad Fikri-Tempo News Room)