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Nigerians grab chickens
01/03/2006 16:15 - (SA)
Kano - Nigerian villagers stormed a poultry farm infected with a deadly strain of bird flu and made off with chickens scheduled for a protective slaughter, an official said on Tuesday.
Bala Usman Suleiman, Bauchi State's agriculture commissioner, said in a radio interview that on Sunday local people had ignored warnings and run into one of three farms in his region to have tested positive for avian influenza.
"It is obvious they meant to eat the chickens because to them bird flu is a myth and they see the culling as a waste," he told Freedom Radio, describing the invasion of Yankari Farm, 300km east of Abuja.
"There were 7 000 chickens on the farm which the state government ordered to be killed, burnt and buried. When the culling was in progress the villagers rushed into the farm, grabbed some of the chickens and took off," he added.
"We have deployed 15 policemen to the farm to ensure that nobody repeats this madness and see to it that all the remaining chickens are culled without any hitch. The two other farms are being protected by the police," he said.
Last month Nigeria became the first country in Africa to confirm an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which can kill humans.
Since then a large, internationally-supported drive has been put in place to try to contain the epidemic and educate at risk populations, but the virus has nevertheless spread to seven Nigerian states and neighbouring Niger.
Tuesday's report was the first official confirmation of rumours that poor farmers are ignoring warnings and grabbing birds from infected farms.
"People who witnessed the incident said about 30 villagers forced their way into the farm and carted away a large number of the chickens for their consumption," local reporter Godwin Agbara told AFP.
"So far none of them has been traced and by now they must have devoured the chickens," he added.
Once cooked, even infected chicken pose no danger to human health, but Nigerian officials fear that farmers may inadvertently spread the virus by moving stock or fall sick by exposing themselves to raw birds.
"We are not saying nobody should eat chicken, but what we are saying is that people should keep away from any poultry farm where bird flu outbreak is confirmed," Suleiman said.
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