With assistance from the military, animal quarantine authorities culled more than 22,000 chickens on a farm in Yunlin County’s Shueilin Township (水林) yesterday, as part of efforts to fight avian influenza.
Since late December last year, bird flu has been discovered in 17 poultry farms in the county, with over 150,000 birds having been culled, Yunlin County Animal and Plant Disease Control Center Director Liao Pei-chih (廖培志) said.
Outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N6 strain this month have put the poultry industry on high alert, he said.
Photo: Taipei Times.
As of yesterday, 11 farms in Hualien, Tainan, Chiayi and Yunlin counties have been confirmed as having the H5N6 strain of the virus, which is highly contagious and transmittable to humans, according to the Council of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine.
As part of ongoing efforts to contain the spread of the virus, the council banned the transportation and slaughter of poultry for a period of seven days, which started on Friday.
Meanwhile, several cities yesterday warned the public not to feed birds in parks or risk stiff fines.
The Taipei City Government has stepped up its campaign, posting warning signs in 14 of the city’s larger parks and warning that people could be exposed to excrement when feeding birds, increasing the risk of infection.
As the feeding could also pollute the environment, offenders could face fines of between NT$1,200 and NT$6,000 for violation of the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法), the officials said.
The Taichung City Government said yesterday that it would step up inspections of its parks, adding that people who do not heed warnings may face fines of up to NT$10,000 for feeding birds.
The Tainan City Government issued a similar warning and has also disinfected locations frequented by wild doves.
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DEMAND: The government should enact regulations in line with Austria and Germany to incorporate vegan nutrition into school meals, an advocate said More than 1,000 people yesterday marched in Taipei to promote veganism, calling for legislation to incorporate vegan diets into school lunches and the national net zero emissions program. Participants gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building for the march, which was organized by the Vegan Action Network (VAN). Former ambassador to Chad Chiu Chung-jen (邱仲仁), actor Yankee Yang (楊子儀) and actress Cindy Lien (連俞涵) attended the event. VAN member Marianne Chao (趙梅君) said that the campaign aimed to urge the government to promote vegan diets across schools and government agencies via legislation and national policies, which would help build
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