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.
AVIAN FLU fears
Even so, there is sensitivity to questions about the issue. The city government’s DOH was repeatedly contacted for comment about avian flu, but declined to make a statement. Many Bird Street storeowners were also reluctant to talk, claiming bad press caused the bird flu panic in the first place. Obviously, the phobia and restrictions on importing birds has had a catastrophic affect on business. Two years ago one shop owner was quoted by this paper as saying trade was down 80 percent. At least three stores on the road closed, according to Sung Shih-kai (宋世凱), of Ming Niao Ju (鳴鳥居), who sells items like enamel bowls and ornate cages that can cost up to NT$12,500.
“It (store owners do not mention bird flu by name) has been a disaster. The press was terrible and wrote so many bad stories we refused to talk to reporters. Everyone was scared stiff and the new regulations were a pain. They still are. It’s hard to run a business under these conditions and it is not fair because pet birds are not spreading the disease,” Sung said, as he poured tea for his friends.
This is only partially true. Nearly all birds can be infected by avian flu. Many wild birds are natural carriers of the virus, but do not develop serious infections. It appears there is a species-specific sensitivity to H5N1 and cases of exotic birds — such as those sold on Bird Street — catching the disease are rare, or even non-existent.
Famously, a parrot in England, 2005, was supposed to have died from the disease, after contracting the virus by mixing with birds from Taiwan. A subsequent examination of the farm where the birds were said to come from, by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in Taiwan, proved negative. Later, UK newspaper reports suggested the test was actually a misinterpretation of data.
Even so many countries have been slaying exotic birds in an attempt to control the disease and as far back as November 2004, Council of Agriculture officials killed 28 parrots smuggled into the country from Indonesia. There have been bans on the import of exotic birds throughout the world and clampdowns on illegal traders. As well as killing smuggled birds some governments have proposed banning or slaughtering all pet birds.
However, focusing on the international trade in exotic birds, pet stores or migratory birds is not going to make the problem go away. The avian flu villain is the international poultry industry, which is plagued by contaminated feed, unsanitary conditions and close bird-to-bird contact. In Taiwan the government has acted by banning commercial poultry slaughtering outside of certified abattoirs. This will take effect in April next year, after which the common sight of chickens being kept and killed in markets will be a thing of the past.
Though a goose in China, 1996, was the first known carrier of H5N1, since then chickens have been the biggest source of disease as they are most populous and susceptible to it. Transmission to wild birds and even cats has occurred, but is rare. Since 1997 in Hong Kong, when the city’s entire chicken population of 1 million birds was slaughtered, culls have been the standard method of dealing with infections. This week three villages in Malaysia were affected by bird flu and around 8,000 ducks and chickens were killed.
These facts are recognized by the Centers for Disease Control Taiwan. An official from the bureau, who did not give her name, confirmed in a phone call the risk of pet birds from Bird Street spreading H5N1 was “small.” There was no immediate need to stop the trade, she added. Though it was important to stay vigilant, she said steps have been taken to contain the disease. A vaccine has also been developed by the NHRI, which could be rushed into mass production.
Understanding avian flu and preparedness has taken the pressure out of the situation for traders on Bird Street and in recent weeks the area was alive with the sound of bird music. In the morning and evening it’s loudest and it can be hard to make yourself heard, as chicks squawk to be fed and adult birds call to each other. There were signs of renewal too as empty stores were being fitted out.
For over 30 years Bird Street has been the center of Taiwan’s bird trade. Before this time vendors used to frequent the area and bring in birds from the countryside. Pigeons were sold for racing, sparrows were bought for religious purposes (fangsheng (放生) or releasing birds to accumulates virtue in Buddhism), finches were sold to old men as songbirds and pheasants for gardens. Later, birds were imported. Canaries and budgerigars were sold to kids and schools as pets and for educational purposes. Cockatoos were valued for their beauty and parrots and mynah birds for their mimicking abilities. Rare species, sometimes controversially, also found their way to Bird Street.
A BIRD FOR EVERYONE
Yang Jin-chiang (楊盡強) of World Bird Garden (世界鳥園) said there is a bird for everyone and looking around at the variety on offer you could see what he meant. They ranged in price from sparrows at NT$5 to a green-and-yellow parrot for NT$105,000 that did a fair impression of an old woman and could also sing snippets of five songs, in two languages. There were also miniature pot-bellied pigs, baby squirrels, kittens, puppies and other mammals.
“We started selling animals rather than birds when the scare came,” said one lady, an owner of Graceful Pet Shop (優美寵物用品行), who asked not to be named. “We had to after we were stopped from importing birds. All the birds are from Taiwan, except these finches here, which I have had for three years. Our business used to depend on importing, but not any more. We can bring in some birds from South Africa, but not many other places.”
For some critics of the bird trade this is not a bad thing. They claim Bird Street and places like it have caused the near extinction of some species because of smuggling and insist health problems are an issue. Victor Yu (余維道), of the Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBFT), said he would prefer to see more people watching birds in their natural habitat.
“I am not sure keeping pet birds is part of Taiwanese culture. As a wild bird protection organization, we, at WBFT, strongly urge people to go outdoors to watch and enjoy the beauty of wild birds. We are not against bird shops per se, we just hope there are less of them. We expect the government to take more control of the bird trade, ask bird shops to show legal documents for all imported birds, ban the illegal reproduction of protected birds and totally ban smuggling.”
If avian flu does fade away, then Bird Street is likely to grow again. Ironically, just before the bird flu scare of 2004 the city government was making the area more tourist friendly by erecting 14 bird-inspired lampposts and adding sculptures and 2D metal silhouettes of our feathered friends. The aim was to make the area a stop on the city’s tourist map and this could be a reality once again, said Ou Ke-hua (歐可華) of the Shang Jia Bird Garden (上嘉鳥園).
Two years ago she and her brother started their pet shop on Bird Street and they claim business has been steadily improving, especially among the young. Birds are easy to look after, they don’t take up much space and they are good company, she said, while serving two high school students. Asked about the new Communicable Disease Prevention Law, Ou responded that taking precautions was sensible but looking after pet birds was something that people had been doing for millennia and would continue to do.
“I have heard of the new regulations but I don’t think they apply to us really. We are not the problem. Obviously we must be concerned about it [avian flu] because China is so near and the Strait is so narrow. But it hasn’t infected our birds yet, so it shouldn’t affect us in the future.”
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