Wet-market vendors defy slaughtering ban in Guangdong
Vaccination plan for province to be drawn up within next five years
The slaughter of poultry continued at Guangdong's wet markets yesterday despite authorities banning the practice on Wednesday.
The ban was imposed by the Guangdong Administration of Industry and Commerce in response to reports this week that a Guangzhou man visited several poultry slaughtering stalls in the city before he died from bird flu last week.
The authorities yesterday also announced plans to come up with a vaccination strategy for Guangdong over the next three to five years.
Shenzhen vendor Li Zaihao was unaware of the provincial order against killing poultry in wet markets. 'It cannot be true. If so, what can I do but close down my business?
'Many people are choosing not to eat chicken these days. The people who still come to buy are those who like eating fresh chickens. If slaughtering chickens is banned in wet markets, we will lose our last buyers.'
At the Dezhen Farm Products Market, one of the places the bird flu victim, Lao Qiliang , frequently visited, poultry vendor Bi Ruqun said she had not been told to stop killing chickens.
Ms Bi said slaughtering poultry immediately after clinching a sale was the only way to prove the birds were fresh and healthy.
Guangdong commerce administration senior official Hu Yanni said the ban would be helpful in stopping a further outbreak of bird flu through retail channels.
'We have launched campaigns to check all wet markets and educate vendors to stop slaughtering poultry in marketplaces,' she said. 'Selling live poultry is still allowed. But vendors slaughtering poultry in wet markets will be fined if they don't take our advice seriously.'
Traders accused local authorities of overreacting. Guangdong Poultry Association vice-secretary Chen Liqin said the ban could destroy the poultry industry in the province.
He said the government should have at least set up more free slaughtering facilities for vendors before announcing the ban.
At an emergency meeting yesterday of Guangdong party and agricultural chiefs, provincial vice-party chief Ou Guangyuan said Guangdong planned to spend three to five years to establish a 'routine vaccination mechanism' that would ensure all poultry were vaccinated and healthy before going to markets.
'We can set up a sound market admittance regulation to prevent all unvaccinated livestock appearing on the market,' Mr Ou said.
Under the existing inspection system, live poultry from major breeders has to pass random inspections before going on sale, but birds from small farms or individual breeders are often traded out of sight of the disease prevention and control authority.
Xie Yuexin, director of the province's agriculture department, admitted there were still some failures in bird flu prevention and control in Guangdong. Some cities and regions had ignored the seriousness of the situation by failing to collect vaccines.
German authorities have identified a marten infected with H5N1 bird flu, the second species of mammal to be found with the virus in the country, the Friedrich Loeffler Institute said yesterday.
The discovery of the virus in the marten, a weasel-like creature, came days after three domestic cats were found to have the highly pathogenic strain of the disease.
