Indonesia bows to bird cull pressure

Indonesia today ordered a mandatory mass cull of chickens in areas affected by an outbreak of bird flu, reversing its earlier insistence that a large-scale slaughter was not necessary.

The World Health Organisation had criticised Indonesia’s initial refusal to order the killings, saying poultry culls were the best way to halt the rapid spread of avian flu.

Welfare Minister Jusuf Kalla said President Megawati Sukarnoputri had promised government assistance to compensate breeders for the losses and to replace their stocks.

After weeks of denials, Indonesian authorities announced on Sunday that avian influenza was rampant in much of the country, including Bali, the nation’s premier tourist destination.

Ten Asian countries and territories are battling the disease in poultry.

Indonesia maintains it has no human cases of bird flu. The virus has jumped to humans in Thailand and Vietnam, where at least 10 people have died.

Kalla said that payment of compensation to breeders would be delayed in order to make sure that replacement stocks were not infected.

Kalla did not specify how many birds would be affected by the order, but officials have said that several parts of Java, Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo have been affected by the disease.