The indefinite closure of a zoo puts people off eating chicken
Reports that 10 swans died under unusual circumstances at a popular Shenzhen zoo have devastated live chicken markets in the city.
Shenzhen has no confirmed or suspected outbreaks of bird flu, according to the city's foreign press office. But the news of dead swans and reports of outbreaks in other provinces have put people off eating chicken.
At Xili market, a few hundred metres away from the zoo, chicken vendors stood idle for the most of the day.
'Business had become really bad. People are afraid and I had to slash my prices. Still, I sold less than half of what I could sell on a normal day,' said one chicken vendor.
The normally bustling wet market in Dongman, the largest of its kind in Shenzhen, was almost deserted. Poultry vendors said they were thinking seriously of closing down.
