It took 60 people just a matter of hours on New Year’s Eve to kill (sorry, cull) a total of 18,962 birds over fears of bird flu in Hong Kong.
No less than 11,800 chickens, 3,140 silky fowls, 2,997 pigeons and 1,025 chukars had met their maker by 5:30pm on Wednesday after the H7N9 avian influenza virus was detected in live chickens imported to Cheung Sha Wan Wholesale Poultry Market from Guangdong.
All the dead animals have been sent to landfill, while the entire market has been scrubbed clean and disinfected. It will remain closed until Jan. 21.
Local farms have stopped dispatching their live birds to the market while the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) carries out inspections with local suppliers over the next few days.
If the samples are found to be satisfactory, the farmers will be able to sell their birds through the Ta Kwu Ling Checkpoint.
The AFCD has requested suppliers to be extra vigilant about biosecurity and report any abnormalities in their birds immediately.
Let’s hope that’ll do the trick so all those little winged lives haven’t been lost in vain.
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