Jakarta to relocate poultry facilities

- Published: 23 January, 2007

Authorities in the Indonesian capital Jakarta are preparing to relocate poultry storage and slaughtering facilities to prevent further outbreaks of bird flu during the rainy reason.

The city administration is now also culling backyard birds, which were banned following a decree. The local residents, who have been given until the end of the month to voluntarily dispose of their backyard birds, have so far handed more than 1,000 for slaughter. Officials are planning to conduct door-to-door inspections to check for birds and will seize and cull all fowl kept in residential areas without paying compensation to the owners.

The City's Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Agency estimates that birds are kept in about half of the houses in the city's 2,684 neighbourhood units. Each unit is home to an estimated 1,000 fowl

Jakarta's residential areas are expected to be free from any background farming in February.