Jakarta - The Jakarta Administration has planned to relocate all bird markets in the capital city to Cibubur, East Jakarta, in 2008 in an anticipation of bird flu outbreaks. "The process of relocating bird markets will be conducted in stages. We are now still waiting for the issuance of a regional regulation concerning the plan. The work will also not be easy as it involves a lot of people," Edi Setiarto, head of the Jakarta fishery, husbandry and marine services, said here on Monday.
The Jakarta Administration has planned to relocate bird markets and poultry farming to Cibubur, East Jakarta. In an effort to stop bird flu virus from spreading, the capital city has banned back-yard farming’s of chickens, ducks, geese, pigeon, and quail in human settlement areas. The city authorities will also rearrange locations of poultry slaughter houses. Jakarta at present has two official poultry slaughter houses and around 1,200 non-official ones. A draft regulation on the matters is currently being discussed by the Jakarta regional legislative council (DPRD). A total of 10 nations have detected outbreaks of bird flu (Avian Influenza) disease in humans. Indonesia has verified more human cases of H5N1 infection than any other country. Of more than 80 cases confirmed in Indonesia, 62 have been fatal. *ant