Virus crops up in three more areas

NST: The bird flu virus has been detected in another three areas in Perak, after random sampling of chickens and a wild bird in the vicinity came up positive.
The hot spots are:
• Kampung Changkat Legong in Gopeng, only 2.5km away from Changkat Tualang where the virus was first detected in Perak last week;
• Titi Gantung Agriculture Training Institute in Bota; and,
• Panorama Lapangan Perdana, a housing area on the outskirts of Ipoh.

State Agriculture and Agro-Based committee chairman Datuk Radzi Manan said the cases were confirmed by the Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) in Ipoh on Monday.
The authorities have ordered the culling of some 3,000 chickens within a one-kilometre radius of Kampung Changkat Legong and the training institute in Titi Gantung.
The exercise began about 4pm yesterday, ending about eight hours later.
Radzi said swab samples of two chickens belonging to a villager in Kampung Changkat Legong tested positive for the virus as did swab samples of six chickens at the institute in Bota.
The two chickens were among 20 reared by the villager.
About 1,500 chickens are reared by some 300 villagers in Kampung Changkat Legong.
The majority of the chickens are for personal consumption with a handful meant to be sold to middlemen.
On the dead cattle egret found by a resident at Panorama Lapangan Perdana, Radzi said it appeared to be an isolated case as there were no residents in the area rearing chickens.
However, he said the authorities were not taking chances with veterinary officers monitoring Panorama Lapangan Perdana and nearby areas.
During a visit to Kampung Changkat Legong yesterday, Radzi met villagers to explain the need to cull chickens.
He said most villagers reared ayam serama or bantam chickens.
"Some of them even have the chickens living in their houses instead of chicken coops. And some even allow the chickens to sleep in beds with their children.
"They are very attached to the fowls and getting rid of them will not be easy," he said, adding that he had to persuade them (the villagers) to co-operate with veterinary officers.
Radzi assured villagers that they would be compensated, urging the village head to draw up a list of villagers affected by the culling exercise.