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Saturday, October 29, 2005
Capitol monitors bird flu hotspots
MIGRATORY birds have started flocking Misamis Oriental's marshlands this week, raising fears anew of the dreaded avian flu virus that has ravaged neighboring Asian countries.
Provincial Veterinarian Alfonso Ramosa said in a radio interview Friday that his office was tasked to monitor the movements of migratory birds in the province.
The towns of Opol and Alubijid were among the areas in Northern Mindanao earlier identified as favorite nesting grounds of migratory birds that are being closely watched nationwide for being possible carriers of the virus.
Meanwhile, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) 10 said it has been monitoring the movements of egret and heron birds, two species that are visible in the region.
"We are appealing to the residents in those places to refrain from capturing and eating those birds," Dr. Ramosa said.
He said blood samples would be collected from the migratory birds to ensure that they had not been infected with the virus.
Aside from the two towns, Balingasag town in Misamis Oriental and the component city of Gingoog are also being monitored.
The Philippines remains free of the bird flu virus among all other South Asian countries.
Earlier in Caraga, a team tasked to monitor avian flu for migratory birds at the 140,000 hectares Agusan Marsh was formed by the Animal Health quarantine of the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health and the Agusan del Sur Provincial Veterinary office.
Agusan del Sur Board member Santiago Cane confirmed this saying the team would get blood samples of migratory birds from the Agusan Marsh.
Cane, who chairs the committees on health and agriculture of the Agusan del Sur Provincial Board told Sun.Star the tests would determine if there are "bird flu" cases following reports that some of the birds have shown signs of weakness.
Cane said the discovery came after a visit at the Agusan Marsh in April 2004 by representatives from the US based "Book for the Barrios Foundation" headed by a certain Dr. Nancy Harrington. (Annabelle Ricalde of Sun.Star Superbalita with a report from Ben Serrano)
(October 29, 2005 issue)
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