Indonesia begins campaign to clear capital of fowl as bird flu cases spike
Residents handed over hundreds of chickens and other fowl for slaughter Friday as authorities in Indonesia’s capital scrambled to stop the spread of bird flu after a spike in human deaths.
Just meters (yards) away, however, it was easy to find people with no intention of giving up their birds, showing the difficulties ahead for Indonesia _ the country worst hit by bird flu _ as it prepares to enforce a ban on fowl in residential areas.
“My chickens are healthy and strong,” said Jumadi Akhir, who keeps two fighting cocks and several other ornamental chickens. “I treat them as good as I do my own children.
I wash them morning, night and day.” Meanwhile, Vice President Jusuf Kalla declared war against the disease after four people died in the capital Jakarta since last week, calling it an “epidemic” that must be stopped.
“We will be optimizing our efforts to combat the bird flu … all our potential will be mobilized to eliminate it,” he told reporters.
The sprawling country has come under fire for failing to make adequate efforts to fight H5N1 and has largely failed to follow through on earlier promises to stamp out the virus through mass culls, so it remains to be seen whether the latest campaign will be a success.
Halting the spread will require the commitment of the government’s underpaid and corrupt officials, in addition to support from bird owners.
Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari told residents Friday that lives are at stake.
“People infected by bird flu only have a small chance of survival,” she said. “With no medicine to fight the virus and the pattern of the disease still unclear, we have to cut the chain of transmission, which means killing fowl.”
The birds handed over Friday in a ceremony attended by top government officials had not been tested for bird flu and were believed to be healthy. They were slaughtered and then placed in a hole in the ground before being set alight.
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said this week he was giving residents two weeks to kill or sell their backyard chickens, song birds and other fowl before officials go door-to-door confiscating them.
Those who comply will receive compensation of about US$1 a bird.
“Starting on Feb. 1, I will show no tolerance,” said Sutiyoso, who goes by only one name.
Indonesia has seen 61 human bird flu deaths since 2004.
International experts fear H5N1 may mutate into a form that could spread easily between humans and potentially kill millions around the world, including in wealthy nations that have so far been spared human cases.
About 350 million backyard chickens are kept throughout Indonesia, many of which are in the capital and surrounding towns. The health minister said this week that nine other provinces hard-hit by bird flu would also soon ban chickens from residential areas.
Humans catch bird flu from infected fowl so removing birds from residential areas is a key plank in efforts to stop the spread of the virus.
Edi Supriyadi, a 47-year-old civil servant, was among those taking part in Friday’s campaign, handing over 10 ducks, four chickens and six birds.
“When I heard that most of the bird flu victims in Jakarta were infected by backyard chickens, I decided to hand over all of my fowl before it was too late.”