Bird flu epidemic costs $500 million

Fighting avian influenza (bird flu) in Asia and restocking it will cost at least $500 million. The FAO released the estimate on Saturday during a conference in Bangkok attended by 23 Asian countries directly and indirectly affected by avian influenza. At the conference, a catalog of measures was adopted to ensure that the current epidemic is combated more effectively and that future outbreaks are brought under control more quickly. A total of 10 million US dollars was made available for this by various countries.

Japan announced on Saturday that it would resume poultry meat imports from four Thai producers - Sun Valley, Ajinomoto Betagro Frozen Foods (Thailand), Ajinomoto Frozen Foods and Surapon Nichirei Foods. The four companies together produce 150 tons of poultry meat every day.

In Thailand, the order to mark "fighting cocks" with microchips met with clear skepticism. Connoisseurs of the matter described the undertaking as ridiculous and unrealistic. The now 600 microchipped fighting cocks would only survive this bloody martial art for a few weeks. The authorities want to use the implanted microchips to control traffic with these animals. Another problem is the 63 million local breed chickens living in small "backyard pens" in Thailand, a representative of the Thai Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Native Poultry Breeds warned.

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Source: Bangkok [ aho ]