The Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today announced that he had ordered a cull of wild storks in Thailand, because of concerns that the birds were spreading avian 'flu.

This week two farms north of Bangkok near Ayutthaya and Pathum Thani were hit by a recurrence of the 'flu, which killed 16 Vietnamese and eight Thais during an epidemic that swept through much of Asia earlier this year.

Prime Minister Shinawatra said that he had "ordered officials at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to take drastic action against wild storks." When asked what was meant by "drastic action", he replied ,"Some of them have to be culled."

The Thai Government believes the latest outbreak was caused by wild storks – yet all the scientific evidence points towards domestic ducks being the carriers of the disease.

"Wild storks in Thailand are being made into scapegoats." —Dr Leon Bennun, Director of Science and Policy, BirdLife

Furthermore, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization explicitly warned the Thai Government neither to restock their poultry farms so quickly after the avian 'flu epidemic had subsided, nor to declare it over so fast, yet they clearly ignored this advice.

Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife's Director of Science and Policy said, "Wild storks in Thailand are being made into scapegoats. The scientific evidence all points to them being the victims of a highly contagious strain of avian 'flu, which evolved from keeping poultry and ducks in over-cramped, unnatural conditions."

"Killing storks to control avian ‘flu is deeply misguided. Even if the storks really were carrying this disease, shooting would just result in the survivors dispersing and spreading the virus even faster."

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