About 8,900 broiler ducks at two farms in Yunlin County’s Dounan Township (斗南) are to be culled, while a suspected H5N2 infection was reported at farms in Tainan and Chiayi County on Monday.
Ducks at the Yunlin farms on Monday were found to have contracted a new type of the highly pathogenic H5N2 bird flu virus, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine said.
The bureau said that it would perform precautionary culls at the farms even though the animals were generally in good health.
The farms are unenclosed facilities within a 1km radius of a previously affected farm, but the ducks to be culled might have been exposed to the virus through interaction with migratory birds, the bureau said.
It is clear that the virus is still active in the areas, the bureau said, adding that would to conduct disinfection operations and take samples from all facilities within a 1km radius of all affected farms.
Operators who refuse inspections face a fine of between NT$30,000 and NT$150,000 (US$915 and US$4,575), while those who fail to report irregular deaths of fowls face a maximum fine of NT$1 million, it said.
Ducks are a carrier of the virus, but show few symptoms and have a low mortality rate, the bureau said, adding that while the native H5N2 viruses only infects chickens, not waterfowl, the new H5N2 viruses are more powerful strains that can infect geese and ducks.
Separately, a farm in Tainan with about 1,800 geese and a farm in Chiayi with about 1,200 broiler ducks reported irregular deaths of hundreds of fowl to authorities on Monday, with tests done and the results given to the bureau for examination.
A report on the results is expected today.
As of Monday, the Council of Agriculture had tested samples from 986 farms nationwide and confirmed bird flu infection at 953 farms, culling animals at all 953 facilities, the bureau said.
To control the spread of avian influenza, in June the council announced that affected farms could resume poultry operations only after the facility is renovated to an enclosed or non-open structure, with the rules to take effect next year.
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
RSS