After killing millions of chickens and ducks across Asia, bird flu is feared to have jumped to some exotic species, possibly killing a leopard and cranes in Thailand and pheasants in Taiwan.
A zoo in northern Thailand has even isolated two healthy giant pandas over fears they may catch the disease.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization warned that the disease -- which has killed 14 people in Vietnam and five in Thailand -- still has not been controlled in several Asian countries.
"Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Laos continue to report new outbreaks in poultry," FAO said.
Around 80 million chickens have been slaughtered across Asia, excluding China, to curb bird flu's spread, it said.
Indian authorities yesterday they plan to hold an emergency meeting in New Delhi tomorrow of health and agricultural officials from seven South Asian nations to draft a strategy to prevent the spread of bird flu in the highly populous region.
In Thailand, Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Prapat Panyachatraksa said on Friday that tests showed that a clouded leopard died of bird flu on Jan. 27 at Khao Khiew Zoo in Chonburi province, 70km south of Bangkok.
The World Health Organization said that if confirmed it could be the first known case of the disease found in an exotic animal or a member of the cat family.
Two separate tests showed the leopard had succumbed to bird flu, but the exact strain was unclear, Prapat said. Officials were awaiting the results of a third test.
A zoo official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the leopard might have eaten chicken infected with bird flu.
Prapat also announced that tests were being carried out on more than 200 cranes that died at Bungboraphet Bird Park in Nakhon Sawan province, 210km north of Bangkok.
At the Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand's north, workers were trying to keep wild roosters and hens from coming close to the endangered pandas that have been rented from China for 10 years for US$250,000, the zoo's director Tanapat Pongpamorn said.
"Those chickens were born in the wild. They roam the zoo everywhere," he said. "We're doing our best."
In Taiwan, officials ordered a pet-bird farm in Tainan County to kill about 300 birds, including Swinhoe's pheasants -- a once-endangered indigenous bird with a short white crest and a blue head.
The culling was ordered after test results showed some of the birds were infected with H5N2, a less dangerous strain of bird flu that has not jumped to humans.
Ten governments in the region have been dealing with strains of bird flu since South Korean officials reported an outbreak in December. Some Asian countries, as well as the US, are being hit with a milder bird flu strain not thought to pose a danger to people.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS