Something was strange about a little brown bird found dead with bird flu this month in one of Hong Kong's busiest shopping districts.
The bird -- a scaly breasted munia -- usually lives in rural areas. So what was it and five others doing flitting around in such a bustling, crowded area -- possibly exposing some of the thousands of locals and tourists to the deadly virus?
Experts think the bird may have been a prop in a Buddhist ritual that involves freeing hundreds of birds to improve one's karma. As the threat of bird flu re-emerges in Asia, the government finds itself in the awkward position of urging that the religious practice be stopped to protect the public's health.
When health officials discovered that the scaly breast munia -- found on New Year's Eve -- tested positive for the H5 virus, they held a news conference. A few days later, they said further tests showed the bird had the H5N1 strain.
The scaly breasted munia is native to Hong Kong, but it is usually found in tussocks in rural areas, said Lew Young, a manager at Hong Kong's Mai Po bird sanctuary.
"Six scaly breasted munia being found dead at the same spot at one time easily leads one to suspect whether they were being released," he said.
The birds are commonly used in the Buddhist ceremonies, Young added.
"They are usually transported to Hong Kong from the mainland in boxes. If one of the birds is sick, the rest are likely to be sick as well since they are crammed in one box," he said.
Aidia Chan, a postgraduate student in ecology, said Buddhist groups practiced the ritual one to 18 times each year, releasing as many as 3,000 birds each time.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese