Someone once observed that The Wall Street Journal runs some very biased editorials. But its news stories report the facts because the readers insist on them.
By that token, we should pay attention to Poultry Indonesia Online, a monthly journal that usually has more to say than the usual English-language Indonesian media. Here's an excerpt from the November issue:
Hundreds of dead chickens discovered a few weeks ago in Merangin regency, Jambi, have been infected by avian flu, an official confirmed.
Head of Merangin’s husbandry agency Imam Budi Cahyono said his agency had conducted a rapid test on the chickens in Antak Seribu village and found the animals were infected with the disease.
“Our participatory disease surveillance team concluded the dead chickens were infected by avian flu,” Imam said, adding the team had fumigated several areas in the village to prevent the virus from spreading.
The husbandry agency plans to implement focal culling measures for domestic birds living in a one-kilometer radius of the area where the dead chickens were first discovered, he said. According to Imam, bird flu is endemic to Lantak Seribu, as a similar outbreak took place there last year.
“Basically, we’re asking residents to conduct the culling themselves. If we do it, we’ll have to get permission from the owners first,” he added.
Residents should fumigate with bath soap once or twice a week to prevent the virus from spreading, he said.
“Using bath soap for fumigating is effective. Residents can’t just rely on disinfectant, as there is not enough in stock.” He called on residents to report any dead chickens to the husbandry agency.
So that's the take of the people actually trying to make a living from Indonesian poultry.
