Philippines culls 500 parrots on bird-flu fears
The Philippines culled about 500 parrots imported from Indonesia as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the bird-flu virus from other Southeast Asian countries, officials said on Tuesday.
The Philippines, which has remained free of the virus that ravaged poultry farms and killed 53 people across large parts of Asia since late 2003, has banned the import of poultry from countries affected by bird flu.
"The country remains bird-flu free, so we are very strict in implementing our existing ban,” Victor Atienza, assistant director at the Bureau of Animal Industry, told Reuters.
Atienza said the parrots, seized on Sunday by coastguard officials from a boat en route to Manila from the southern province of Saranggani on the Philippine-Indonesia border, were destroyed on Monday.
The parrots, in 14 cages, were on their way to Manila for export to Europe, coastguard officials said.
In February last year, quarantine officials destroyed 350 lovebirds a week before Valentine’s Day after they learned that the birds had passed through Bangkok en route from Amsterdam.
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