Ministry bans the raising of free-range ducks

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Ministry bans the raising of free-range ducks

Post by admin » July 13, 2005, 11:27 am

Ministry bans the raising of free-range ducks

APINYA WIPATAYOTIN

The Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives has banned the raising of free-range ducks after bird flu infections resurfaced in five areas of Suphan Buri province last week.

Deputy Prime Minister Phinij Jarusombat, who is in charge of agriculture, told a meeting of officials tasked with tackling the spread of avian influenza yesterday that they must make sure duck farmers in 25 provinces, mostly in the central plains, immediately halt the raising of free-range ducks until the year's end, said Nirundorn Aungtragoolsuk, director of the Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Services.

''The Interior Ministry would, in a day or two, make an announcement to make the ban official,'' said Mr Nirundorn.

Officials believe that free-range ducks have contributed to the spread of the deadly disease as they are allowed to freely move about from one paddy field to another. The Department of Livestock Development had earlier banned the activity but later reached a compromise with over 1,000 free-range duck farmers and allowed them to move their ducks within designated zones.

The department had designated eight zones, with each zone made up of three provinces. The provinces were mainly in the central and eastern parts of Thailand. The farmers had asked that they be given at least six months to prepare for the closed system duck farming.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry has ordered provincial governors to shut down all cock-fighting stadiums. The livestock department last year forced all owners of fighting cocks to register their pets.

Officials believe there are over one million fighting cocks in the country, but only 400,000 have been registered.

According to livestock chief Yukol Limlamthong, lab tests on suspected ducks in four provinces _ Chachoengsao, Kalasin, Loei and Phetchabun _ found no traces of the H5N1 virus.

Test results on ducks from another eight provinces _ Pathum Thani, Prachin Buri, Udon Thani, Lampang, Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Phitsanulok and Suphan Buri _ will be out soon.



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Paul
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Post by Paul » July 13, 2005, 4:39 pm

Serious subject I know - but who comes up with these batty ideas???

Its almost funny (but not really) that when faced with a crisis, the powers that be come up with a scheme - however mad just so they are shown to be doing something.

Quote from another forum:

Re:Serious bird flu epidemic on the cards

Lets see now, how all those people who copied and cheated all through school and are now in government cope with this !


You can fool some of the people some of the time but ................

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