Should we all be worried? Is Lamma one of the safest places to ride this scare out?

<B>Backyard farms to be banned</b>

The government said it plans to outlaw backyard poultry farms to combat avian flu after attempts to cull birds at people's homes failed.

Winnie Chong

Saturday, February 04, 2006

The government said it plans to outlaw backyard poultry farms to combat avian flu after attempts to cull birds at people's homes failed.

Warning that bird flu in Hong Kong was "endemic," Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food York Chow made the announcement Friday, following last month's discovery of a dead chicken and two wild birds infected with the H5N1 virus in the New Territories.

The chicken had been smuggled from the mainland, and three members of a family that kept it in their backyard had been quarantined. They have since tested negative for the virus.

Under current public health regulations, only households or farms with more than 20 chickens or poultry have to be licensed.

Chow said that in a bid to plug loopholes and prevent the spread of avian flu, legislation to be presented within the next two weeks will ban the keeping of live poultry in homes, even for a short period of time.

He said the discovery of the dead chicken and birds suggested that bird flu is now endemic in Hong Kong, but that the risk of an outbreak in the territory is still relatively small.

A bid Thursday to round up all backyard chickens in the border town of Sha Tau Kok - where the dead chicken was found - failed as only 10 of 310 birds were surrendered by residents to Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department officers.

Chow said banning backyard farms is necessary as these households do not have safety measures to prevent the poultry from coming into contact with migratory birds.

He said the ban will apply to chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons, turkeys and quails, and offenders could be subject to fines ranging from HK$50,000 to HK$100,000.

Before the legislation comes into force, AFCD staff will patrol rural areas and ask those with backyard farms to voluntarily surrender their poultry.

Those who do not wish to do so will be allowed to vaccinate and keep their poultry until the bill becomes law.

Those who hand in their poultry will be compensated.

"The amount of compensation will not be big as we don't want to pay for chickens from an unknown source," Chow said.

Meanwhile, customs commissioner Timothy Tong said officers from his department had stepped up inspections at all border crossings to prevent smuggling of poultry.

The chairman of the Legislative Council's food safety panel, Democratic Party legislator Fred Li, said he agreed with the proposed legislation as live chickens were now a "time bomb" for the spread of the H5N1 virus.

I think people have more to worry about from their pets.