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Warning issued after bird-smuggling reports surface

Two young visitors to Taipei County's Guandu Nature Park yesterday read the manual for the binoculars used to watch wild birds. The park urged the public not to over-react to avian flu and said birdwatching was not dangerous. PHOTO: LO PEI-DER, TAIPEI TIMES

The Council of Agriculture yesterday issued a warning against smuggling birds infected with avian flu into the country from China, and urged the public to report any suspected violations.

The alert came after media reports that some Taiwanese professors have planned to sneak in diseased birds from China in order to help develop a flu vaccine.

"Such specimens could spread the bird flu virus and pose a high risk to the health of birds, other animals and humans in Taiwan," said Yeh Ying (葉瑩), deputy director general of the council's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.

According to Chinese-language media reports, professors in veterinary departments at some universities have collected specimens of the avian flu virus in China and plan to bring them into Taiwan for testing.

The bureau cautioned that people should not bring any plants, animals or specimens into the country without permission.

Such smugglers may be pro-secuted for violating the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases (動物傳染病防治條例) and the Plant Protection and Quarantine Act (植物防疫檢疫法), and could face up to three years in jail or a NT$150,000 (US$4,460) fine, plus community service.

Yeh said the council hasn't received any report of suspected violations, but will keep in close contacts with universities, and include academics who often traveled to China on its watch list.

The council also set up a special direct phone line for people to report suspected violations at 0800-039131.

Officials of Taiwan's Center for Disease Control also announced that Chen Hsi (陳曦), a Chinese man who smuggled more than 1,000 birds into Taiwan, was moved into isolation after eight of the birds tested positive for the deadly H5N1 avian flu strain on Oct. 20.

He was first detained on Oct. 14.

The man shows no sign of having the bird flu himself, but is being given the drug Tamiflu as a precaution, officials from the center said.

Meanwhile, birdwatching societies in Taipei City yesterday called on the public not to fear birdwatching activities, stressing that the activity is safe.

No contact

"Birdwatching doesn't mean being close to wild birds or touching them," said Liu Hsin-bai (劉新白), general director of Wild Bird Society of Taipei (WBST).

"Birdwatchers actually keep dozens of meters away from birds, and they usually serve as front-line monitors for signs of any suspicious sickness of birds," Liu said.

According to Liu, birdwatching societies in several counties have been working with the council since 1997 to monitor the activities of migratory birds and take samples of droppings. There hasn't been any bird flu virus found in wild birds so far.

Lin Hsian-wen (林憲文), general director of the Taiwan Wild Bird Association, said a study from Birdlife International, the world's largest wild bird organization, showed no records of humans becoming infected with bird flu virus from birdwatching since 1997.

The human deaths from bird flu that have occured in Southeast Asia were a result of people coming into close daily contact with infected poultry within the confines of poultry farms. The risk to human health from wild birds carrying avian influenza is very low, Lin said.

Festival to go ahead

Neither the council nor the Taipei City Government have thus far discouraged outdoor birdwatching activities.

According to the Taipei City Department of Information, the city government will still hold the "2005 Guandu International Birdwatching Festival" beginning Nov. 12 and it is encouraging people to join the event.
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