Vietnam to cull smuggled poultry to prevent bird flu

Vietnam will try to destroy all smuggled fowls and related products without compensation for their owners or transporters to prevent the outbreak of bird flu, local newspaper Pioneer reported Tuesday.

Under a recent instruction of Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem, the People's Committees of 14 northern and southern cities and provinces will cooperate with relevant agencies to cull the smuggling of poultry and related products from bird flu-hit neighboring countries.

Earlier, the government ordered localities and ministries to step up monitoring bird flu, disinfecting farms, and accelerating the vaccination. Seeing no bird flu outbreaks over the past three months, some Vietnamese provinces have dropped their vigilance against the disease.

Last year, bird flu hit 44 cities and provinces of Vietnam, leading to the forced culling of nearly 4.8 million poultry. The total direct loss caused by the disease was estimated at more than 100 billion Vietnamese dong (6.3 million U.S. dollars).

Now, the country has a total fowl population of 220 million.

Source: Xinhua