Two more poultry farms in Pingtung County have been infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N2 strain and another H5 subtype, following an alert issued on Friday regarding an avian flu outbreak in Japan and other countries, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.
Japan, South Korea, Italy and other European countries are experiencing avian flu epidemics, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director-General Shih Tai-hua (施泰華) said on Friday.
Japan is one of the areas worst hit by the virus, with a farm in Japan’s Kagawa Prefecture found to have been infected with an H5 subtype virus, prompting the council to ban poultry imported from the country, Shih said, adding that the farm culled 92,000 chickens on Thursday.
Photo provided by the Pingtung County Animal Disease Control Center
Since the beginning of this year, five farms in Taiwan — three in Yunlin County’s Dongshih (東勢) and Huwei (虎尾) townships and two in Pingtung’s Yanpu Township (鹽埔) — were confirmed to have been infected with H5 viruses, and 65,753 fowls had been culled as of 6pm yesterday, council data showed.
A poultry farm in Yanpu had 39,000 ducks culled yesterday, according to the council.
From Tuesday until March 31, duck farmers are required to present examination reports that prove their ducks are not infected with bird flu, or they cannot send their ducks to slaughterhouses or markets, Shih said yesterday.
Poultry farmers should make their coops as clean and warm as possible, since chickens are more likely to be infected with bird flu in cold weather, the council said.
The council said it would continue monitoring 90 chicken farms until March 31, while 360 farms raising egg-laying chickens are monitored throughout the year.
While most infection cases are reported in the central and southern regions, the council also received reports about people dumping dead fowls in rivers in northern Taoyuan and Chiayi County.
People who dump dead birds or fail to report infections face a fine of NT$50,000 to NT$1 million (US$1,689 and US$33,784), it said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS