Chickens die in Chiang Mai sparking bird flu fears

CHIANG MAI: Fears of a resurgence of bird flu rose yesterday as more than 20,000 chickens died in Chiang Mai's Sansai district and avian flu was found in Uttaradit.

Theera Adandworapanya, a Chiang Mai-based livestock officer, said that the dead chickens had been buried at the back of a farm to prevent the spread of avian flu.

Tissue samples have been sent for examination to the Upper Northern Animal Forensic and Research Centre in Lampang, and results are expected to come out in a few days, he said.

Reporters were denied access to the farm for fear that news would reflect badly on the province.

In Uttaradit, the provincial authority has ordered chicken culling on farms within one kilometre of the farm in Muang district where chickens tested positive for avian flu. A provincial livestock official expected about 2,900 to be culled

Jintana Yimyanyong, the owner of the flu-infected farm, said that 2,209 chickens on her farm had been culled and she had received Bt40 a head compensation. She has invested more than Bt300,000 in the farm and the compensation was not enough to cover the cost. "I will stop raising chickens for a while. What I have to do now is take my husband and two sons to hospital for bird-flu tests," she said.

--The Nation 2004-03-14

Are we free of the bird flu or not? I am ready for some more anal chicken pieces on a stick