BirdLife Feral Pigeons are the primary target of bird culls in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City Zoom In

Vietnam culls "a distraction" from priority bird flu measures

30-11-2005

The UN's Food and Agriculture organisation (FAO) has warned against culls of wild birds in the cities of countries affected by avian influenza, saying this could distract attention from the campaign to contain the disease among poultry.

The warning followed reports that wild birds were being killed in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. The BirdLife in Indochina Programme reports that similar culls are being attempted in the cities of Da Nang and Hue. Feral Pigeons are the primary target, but Pond Herons and egrets passing through the city have reportedly also been killed, and are among the proposed targets of future culling attempts.

Two of the cities have hired hunters to shoot wild birds, but in Ho Chi Minh City the poison Dipterex is being used. Poisoning is a dangerously indiscriminate technique, which presents a threat to human health, and the Ho Chi Minh City authorities have warned residents not to eat any dead pigeons they find.

An official in Vietnam's Department of Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development told the BirdLife in Indochina Programme that the three cities have acted unilaterally, and that the Vietnamese Government has not authorised or recommended these culls.

BirdLife strongly opposes any suggestion that wild birds should be culled in an attempt to control the spread of avian influenza – on the grounds of practicality and effectiveness, as well as conservation

BirdLife International strongly opposes any suggestion that wild birds should be culled in an attempt to control the spread of avian influenza – on the grounds of practicality and effectiveness, as well as conservation. Any such attempts could spread the virus more widely, as survivors disperse to new places, and healthy birds become stressed and more prone to infection.

The FAO and its sister organisation the World Health Organisation (WHO) and OIE (the World Organisation for Animal Health) have jointly advised that control of avian influenza in wild birds by culling is not feasible, and should not be attempted.

Juan Lubroth, FAO senior officer responsible for infectious animal diseases, commented: "This is unlikely to make any significant contribution to the protection of humans against avian influenza. There are other, much more important measures to be considered that deserve priority attention."

Mr Luboth said that fighting the disease in poultry must remain the main focus of attention. "Controlling the virus in poultry is the most effective way by which the likelihood of the bird flu virus acquiring human-to-human transmissibility can be reduced."

FAO, along with the OIE and the WHO, recommend a series of measures to fight avian influenza outbreaks. These include:

• Improving veterinary services, emergency preparedness plans and control campaigns including culling of infected animals, vaccination and compensation for farmers
• Strengthening early detection and rapid response systems for animal and human influenza and building and strengthening laboratory capacity
• Support and training for the investigation of animal and human cases and clusters, and planning and testing rapid containment activities