Agri chief orders ban on shipment of fowls from Luzon

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol on Sunday said he ordered a ban of the shipment of fowls from Luzon following the avian flu influenza outbreak in Pampanga.

"I have ordered the ban of the shipment of fowls from Luzon to other parts of the country," Piñol said in a statement on his Facebook account.

The Agriculture chief clarified that the country's importation of chicks, hatching eggs and other fowls is not affected by the order.

He said the shipment of fowls from other countryes "will be allowed with the advisory that stringent quarantine protocols must be observed."

"This means that chicken brought in from the United States intended for shipment to the Visayas or Mindanao may not be taken out of the boxes and must be loaded directly into the connecting flights," he added.

In his post, Piñol said at least 200,000 birds, chicken, ducks, quails, pigeons and fighting roosters in areas affected by the outbreak in Pampanga are already being gathered for slaughter.

Arlene Vytiaco, head of the Bureau of Animal Industry's Disease Control Section of Animal Health and Welfare Division, said the fowls will be slaughtered by putting them into a gas chamber.

After the slaughter, the fowls will be buried.

Piñol said the owners of the fowls that will be slaughtered will be compensated P80 per head.

He added that a loan package will be offered to the farmers affected by the outbreak.

He said that the Department of Health has confirmed that the strain that hit 37,000 fowls, mostly chickens, in San Luis town in Pampanga was Type A Sub-Type H5.

This strain of avian influenza does not infect humans, he said.

Piñol said samples taken from workers and residents of San Luis have not shown any signs of illness. He added that the outbreak started in the town as early as April.

1-km farm quarantine

Meanwhile, the Bureau of Animal Industry has declared a one-kilometer radius quarantine zone around the farms where the outbreak was confirmed.

There is also an existing seven-kilometer radius "controlled zone" in Pampanga, "where no fowls, eggs or other products could be brought out."

Piñol said that at least 100 quarantine officers have been deployed within the controlled zone.

He said the quarantine officers, assisted by the police, have set up checkpoints to make sure that fowls will not be taken out from the controlled zone.

"All vehicles coming out of the area will be sprayed with disinfectants to ensure the containment of the virus," he added.

Sentinel birds

Piñol also said that in 21 days, they will deploy "sentinel birds" in affected farms.

He said the sentinel birds will serve as basis in determining whether the virus is still present in certain farms.

"If the sentinel birds will not show signs of the disease, the Quarantine Restrictions will be lifted after 90 days," he said.

Pampanga province has been placed under a state of calamity due to the avian influenza outbreak.

Piñol urged poultry farm owners to report to the Agriculture department the "unusual behaviour" of poultry animals in their areas.

"This is the first time that the country has recorded the presence of the Bird Flu virus and I am calling on all Filipinos to please help [the] government contain this crisis by cleaning up their farms and closely monitoring their chicken for any signs of disease," he said. —ALG, GMA News