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Theme park
continues to draw the crowd
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BUKIT MERAH: The Bukit Merah Lake Town Resort continued to draw in visitors yesterday, despite the recent outbreak of bird flu at its Bird Park. But, the crowd is expected to be smaller than usual and the management anticipates revenue to fall by 50% in the next few weeks. A quick check by the Sun yesterday found the closure of the Bird Park did not completely deter the public from visiting the other attractions at the mammoth 667.7sq ha theme park. Several visitors had arrived at the theme park as early as 9.30am and the number grew by noon. "We have a whole lot more attractions here like the Waterpark, Orang Utan Island, Skycycle, Sunset Cruise, Mini Motorcycle Ride and night activities," said the theme park's general manager, Calvin Ho. The Eco-Park, which houses the animal attraction and is also where the Bird Park is located, has remained open, he said. However, Ho said the resort anticipated a significant loss due to the bird flu incident and that it would cooperate fully with the authorities as its priority is the safety of its visitors. |
"The direct losses from the culling of 249 birds at the Bird Park is about RM200,000 and we've suffered a 50% cancellation of accommodation (bookings)," he said. Last Thursday, the Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry said there were two outbreaks of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu in Perak, one at the theme park and the other in the Teja and Kinta districts. The theme park's 0.4ha aviary was closed on March 16 after faecal samples sent to the Veterinary Research Institute tested positive for the H5N1 strain. The culling of rare and exotic birds in the aviary started last Thursday and ended on Saturday. Ho said the management had cooperated with the authorities and had taken the precautionary measure to send faecal samples for inspection periodically in the past few weeks. "A newspaper report that there were dead birds at the park was incorrect and it has done a lot of damage to our business," he said. "The condition here is back to normal especially when the culling exercise |
ended on Saturday night but we are still monitoring the situation to see if any other animals or staffs are affected by bird flu," he said. According to the authorities, the quarantine period for animals is three days and a week for humans, he said, adding that the park had four more quarantine days to go. Ho expected the situation at the theme park to improve once the public learned that there is no threat to them as the affected areas are contained and well disinfected by the Health and Veterinary Departments. Ho said the management may not re-open the Bird Park as the culling exercise has left a huge emotional scar on the staff. "Furthermore, the cost is quite high to start from scratch again. Instead, we will build a memorial for the birds, which had been a focal item at the Eco-Park and resort itself," he said. |
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