Compensation for surrendering chicken

NST: RM9.50 for a kampung chicken, RM6 for a duck, RM10 for a goose, RM5 for a bird and 20 sen for an egg.
This is how much residents in villages here hit by bird flu would be paid for surrendering the birds to the Veterinary Services Department.
The villages, located in a 1km radius of Kampung Pasir Wardieburn, include Taman Danau Kota, Pekan Danau Kota and Kampung Belakang JPJ.
Leaflets informing villagers of the compensation were distributed in Kampung Pasir Wardieburn today. Two collection centres have been set up and will be operational tomorrow.
Residents were also advised to report chickens that were sick or dead, and also those brought in or out of the area.
VSD deputy director-general Dr Abdul Aziz Jamaluddin said today’s focus was a house-to-house search, an exercise assisted by the Village Development and Security Committee.
"This morning alone, 92 chickens have been culled. The committee’s help is crucial in helping us to locate the birds.
"We will continue to work to ensure by the end of tomorrow, the 1km zone is free of chickens," he said.
Dr Aziz said the few chickens that have died in the last few days could have died of natural causes.
"If it’s the virus, you will have many chickens dying at once. But most of the chickens here are not infected," he said. However, as a precautionary measure, culling was still carried out.
Dr Aziz said swab tests were also conducted outside the 1km radius area, carried out by 30 teams of five members each.
The teams comprised personnel from the department, City Hall, police, staff and students of the Veterinary Medical Faculty and 100 students from Universiti Putra Malaysia.
They conducted checks at different zones, focusing on wet markets, pet shops and on those keeping birds as pets.
So far, the results of all tests had returned negative.