ajohn

It was perhaps only a matter of time until there was a case of bird flu that was unequivocally linked to the bird market. The news was released this weekend that a faecal sample from a Daurian (Purple-backed) Starling, collected at the bird market, was positive for H5N1.

The positive faecal sample collected shows that bird flu DOES occur in cage birds, and suggests that the cluster of cases in the Mong Kok/Sham Shui Po area is probably linked to the bird market (as has previously been suggested on this website). Incidentally, there has also been a press release that a house crow collected in Sham Shui Po recently is suspected to have H5 - yet another scavenging species in the same area!

The government has closed the bird market temporarily until the samples collected are negative - this suggests to me that it could reopen relatively soon.
Meanwhile, government advice is still to avoid touching wild birds - reinforcing the idea to the public that these are major carriers of the disease.

I would urge the HKBWS to speak to the government NOW, before the bird market reopens, to demand that stronger measures are taken against the bird trade in Hong Kong.

If there is any risk to public health in Hong Kong from H5N1, it is surely the result of cramming large numbers of birds into small cages and bringing them into densely populated areas. The argument that migratory birds could bring the disease with them, and that they pose a greater risk to the public than cage birds, is now looking increasingly unsupportable!

cgeoff

Contrast the long-term closure of Mai Po after cases of H5N1 that occur some way distant with what will apparently be a swift re-opening of the bird market despite nearly 20 cases within 3km distance and the fact that the proximity of birds to man is many, many times greater than it is at Mai Po.

The bird trade is cruel and dangerous. In such circumstances, notions of local heritage and culture, and the livelihoods of a relatively small group of old men should take a back seat. The HKBWS should be at the forefront of a campaign to ban it.

tmichael

Geoff's points echo ones I have made here before.

The bird trade has always been cruel and now it clearly carries potentially catastrophic dangers - does the Government really want us to follow on from being the world epicentre of SARS to being the world epicentre of an H5N1 outbreak?  The way to avoid any risk of that is to close bird shops not to close Mai Po.

I'm sure most people in Hong Kong actually expect the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society to be actively and firmly opposed to the continued existence of the bird trade here and elsewhere in China in any way shape or form;  that's what we should be doing, and a lot more forcefully and vociferously than we seem to be at the moment.

Mike Turnbull

ajohn

I agree with Mike that the HKBWS should be fundamentally opposed to the bird trade on ethical and conservation grounds.

It should now take the chance to point out to government that not only is the bird trade cruel, it is also potentially dangerous, as birds carrying H5N1 are being imported into Mong Kok - one of the most densely populated places on earth. What would be the consequence if the virus jumped the species-barrier in such a densely-populated area?

The government continues to scapegoat wild birds for carrying the disease in HK, but the data from the last two years clearly shows the pattern of H5N1 cases from Mong Kok/Sham Shui Po, involving either traded birds or predators/scavengers that would prey on sick birds.

Several cases this year have indicated an obvious recent captive origin - Silver-eared Mesias (feral population does not occur near Mong Kok), (probable) Red-billed Starling (two months after wintering birds have left) and Chestnut Munia (feral population died out about 15 years ago!). Yet the government still insists on classifying these as 'wild' birds simply because they were free-flying at the time of death.

This approach allows them to advise the public to avoid wild birds, without needing to address the more serious issue of the wild bird trade. The HKBWS should be pushing for the government to stop the 'laissez-faire' attitude and tackle the true risks involved with the bird trade.