Earlier this month, animal lovers got into a fowl mood with the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), who were widely believed to have put down some free-ranging neighbourhood chickens just because some folks complained about the noise.
No love indeed for the chickens despite the Year of the Rooster. After all that public condemnation (with a flurry of forum letters sent to the papers), AVA defended their clucky culling measure by stating that the chickens were put down due to bird flu risks, and not due to noise complaints.
Last year, AVA had fielded 20 complaints from residents living near Thomson View and Blocks 452 to 454 Sin Ming Avenue — most of whom weren’t too thrilled to hear the roaming chickens crowing and flying about. In response, AVA “humanely euthanised” the birds, citing that relocation options weren’t possible due to land scarcity.
But what a twist to the authorities’ initial spiel. AVA’s director-general Dr Yap Him Hoo dismissed various media reports that gave the impression that the his agency took action because of complaints of noise.
“The noise issues only serve to bring attention to the relatively high numbers of free-roaming chicken in certain areas, which in turn raise the exposure risk to bird flu in these localities,” he stated, as quoted by TODAY.
Dr Yap goes on to explain that the risk of free-roaming chickens being exposed to bird flu is particularly significant in Singapore, as the country is a stopover nodes for migratory wild birds. Damn, even birds regard Singapore as just a stopover country to get to other more exciting places.
“There is clear scientific evidence that chickens are very susceptible to the bird-flu virus, and (they) can in turn transmit the disease to humans,” he continued. “This was indeed what happened when the region was struck with bird flu in 2004.”
Reader Interactions