The country had almost forgotten about the dreaded bird flu since the last reported outbreak among the fowl on May 21. They have just had a bitter reminder. Since July 1, Kathmandu valley alone has seen more than a dozen outbreaks, with chickens culled at many areas in Bhaktapur, Kirtipur and Kathmandu.
The flu was even detected in Kaski, and the total number of chickens culled has exceeded 10,000 in the month of July alone. The loss to poultry farmers has been in the millions, apart from the destruction of chicken feed and eggs in infected farms.[break]
Even after widespread media coverage of the dangers of bird flu, many poultry farmers are still negligent. The Directorate of Animal Health (DoAH) has a rapid response team that is deployed immediately to bird flu sites, but the team has faced stiff resistance from local farmers many times.
Instead, they prefer to dump their dead chicken on their own and sell live ones hurriedly. In some cases, the police had to be called in to let them complete their work. Such resistance is not just unlawful but also very dangerous to the health of the farmers and the consumers of their products. If the bird flu is transmitted to human beings, it can be fatal.
The most likely victims of bird flu would be the farmers themselves, because bird flu spreads from contact with the infected bird’s flesh, and poultry farmers are the ones who have the maximum contact with chickens.
DoAH has notified poultry farmers to immediately inform officials if they suspect their chickens may be infected. Infected chickens have mild to severe depression, which means they avoid feed, stand still with their head down (maybe even touching the ground) and drool. A lot of birds in a farm may die suddenly without any apparent symptoms or with mild symptoms such as reduced appetite. If farmers find a large number of their chickens displaying such symptoms, they are supposed to immediately contact a veterinarian.
Farmers are responsible not just for their own health but, even more importantly, for the health of millions of their potential consumers. Although culling birds will definitely cause losses to them, in the long run the losses to the society will be much greater from the spread of the virus. Being unscrupulous in this case and continuing to handle infected birds is tantamount to inviting a calamity of now unimaginable proportions.
Although the government has been carrying out surveillance of poultry farms in urban areas, it has not been able to respond to outbreaks on time. It needs to tighten the monitoring of poultry farms to ensure that no infected chicken reach the market. Imported chickens need to be scanned at entry points for tell-tale signs.
Another important issue is that of compensations for farmers. One of the reasons farmers are reluctant to inform of suspected bird flu is because they fear their years of hard work will go down the drain. If they knew they would be given proper compensations, they would have more incentive to report. Surely, a few extra millions is a small price to pay to protect the lives of millions who are now at risk.
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