Culling continues in Penang, Perak villages
by Regina William
The Sun, 23 Mar 2006

KEPALA BATAS: The culling of hundreds of fowl is being carried out at the three villages where the first six deaths of kampung chicken from the H5N1 virus were reported.

Penang Veterinary Services Department director Dr Zairi Serlan said that up to Tuesday night, 1,097 fowl had been culled.

"We will continue the culling exercise until all fowl within a 1km radius of Kampung Permatang Bogak are destroyed," he said.

"We hope to be able to complete this task in the next 48 hours.

"We have to go back every night to catch the fowl, especially birds perched on trees. When we try to get them, they fly away.

"However, culling will continue until we can be sure that the spread of the disease can be contained within these three villages." Bernama reports: About 5,000 birds, mainly poultry, were destroyed in Kampung Changkat Legong near Gopeng and the Titi Gantung Agriculture Complex in Bota, Perak.

State agriculture and agro-based industry and tourism committee chairman Datuk Mohd Radzi Manan said 90% of the 2,000 freerange chickens bred in Kampung Changkat Legong were destroyed, along with 3,000 more at the Titi Gantung Agriculture Complex.

He said the operation continued yesterday to cull 6,000 more fowl in 12 villages.

A dead cattle egret was found in Taman Panorama, Ipoh, but there was no culling of fowl. Only samples were taken at locations within a 1km radius.

In Kota Baru, Kelantan state veterinary services director Dr Idris Kadir said samples were being taken throughout the state to locate any source of the H5N1 bird flu virus.