Two high school girls cooed over a yellow canary and asked the storeowner how to look after it. They cupped the bird in their hands and petted his tiny head. They wanted to know if they could keep it in a bedroom, how to train it to sit on their shoulders and whether he would grow much bigger. They bought bamboo cages, food and tucked their birds in boxes to take home. It appeared to be business as usual on Taipei’s “Bird Street,” as fears of avian flu subside.
For around three years, students and others have avoided Heping West Road, Section 3, like the plague. When a National Taiwan University study suggested doves, parrots and sparrows could transmit the avian flu virus to humans, hundreds of caged birds were abandoned outside the street’s pet shops. Memories of SARS in 2002 were still raw in people’s minds. The area was at the epicenter of that outbreak, which claimed the lives of an estimated 73 people. It was natural for panic to set in and necessary for caution to be exercised.
At the beginning of this week the worldwide death toll from avian flu virus H5N1 was 187, according to WHO (World Health Organization). The latest deaths were of a soldier in China and an Indonesian girl who came into contact with an infected chicken. The symptoms were fever, cough and pneumonia. Avian, or bird flu has a 70 percent mortality rate, according to the National Health Research Institute (NHRI) and is especially dangerous because it continues to mutate. Some scientists have claimed that a pandemic could kill billions of people.
Though Taiwan has not reported a single case of avian flu, both local and central governments have introduced measures to combat the pestilence. At the end of last month the legislature passed a preliminary review of the Communicable Disease Prevention Law (傳染病防治法). It gives the Department of Health (DOH) the power to ban the public from keeping pets if there is an outbreak of a disease that can be transmitted by animals. It can also exterminate pets to control the disease.
The bill, which needs to pass three readings, was introduced because of fears of avian flu spreading. Currently, the DOH can only warn the public to avoid contact with birds, but if the legislation passes it can forbid the public from keeping birds (including pigeons in lofts) at home. It is also designed to prevent selling, killing or abandoning birds in the event of an outbreak. Proposed fines will be from NT$60,000 to NT$300,000.
This is in addition to existing regulations preventing the spread of avian flu. Under the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Disease (動物傳染病防治條例) anyone who illegally imports birds can be fined up to NT$150,000, sentenced to three years in prison, or both. Storeowners on Bird Street confirmed city government workers regularly patrol the area and check the origin of their birds. Fines from NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 can be levied for those who cannot provide paperwork.
Last year the Taipei City Government’s Department of Health set up its first bird flu shelter at Chunghsing Elementary School School in Ximending. Drills have been held and emergency plans put in place to cope with an outbreak, for which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has forecast 14,000 deaths in Taiwan and over 35,000 people in need of hospitalization in Taipei. In March, WHO gave Taiwan a good passing grade of 70 points (the median was 57) for its preparedness against avian flu.
RSS