New regulations on sky burials - a funeral ritual that leaves the deceased to the vultures - have been announced in Tibet after it was found more vultures had suffered abnormal deaths in recent years.
However, officials have denied the deaths were caused by bird flu.
Dramdul, a spokesman for the information department of the Tibet Autonomous Region government, confirmed yesterday that the Civil Affairs Department had announced new regulations on sky burials.
Under the new rules, Tibetans will not be allowed to perform the rituals for people who die from poisoning or infectious diseases.
'So far we have not found one case of bird flu in Tibet,' Dramdul said. 'The ban was in response to requests by locals who felt sky burials were not being performed properly.'
Bai Ma , a researcher at the Tibetology Research Centre of the Tibetan Social Sciences Institute, said Tibetans believed a soul would go to heaven if a body had been eaten by vultures.