Vietnam seizes thousands of chickens

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   Vietnam seizes thousands of chickens smuggled from China in bird flu battle    

 HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Authorities in northern
Vietnam confiscated 2,500 chickens smuggled in from neighboring China,
highlighting the challenges of stopping bird flu, officials said
Tuesday.
 Authorities confiscated 1.3 tons of
chickens found in a truck early Tuesday morning, said Nguyen Thang Loi,
director of Lang Son provincial market control department. The chickens
will be destroyed, he added.
 In neighboring
Quang Ninh province, authorities on Sunday confiscated 4.3 tons of
chickens smuggled in from China in two separate cases, said provincial
chief market inspector Nguyen Dang Truong.
 Loi
said his staff have confiscated some 50 tons of chickens smuggled in
from China so far this year, while authorities in Quang Ninh have
confiscated and destroyed more than 60 tons of the birds in the same
period.
 "We are fighting an uphill battle against smugglers who use two-way radios to deal with us," Loi said.
 The
H5N1 bird flu virus has hit Vietnam hard this year, ravaging poultry
stocks across the country. It has killed 46 people in Vietnam since the
virus began spreading in late 2003. Animal experts have blamed
unvaccinated birds smuggled across borders for fanning the disease, but
local officials have struggled to stop the illegal transport across
Vietnam's long porous border with China.
 Loi
said many local residents who live along the border have been lured to
work as porters who haul chickens on their backs and could be paid up
to 100,000 dong (US$6.2) a day, a much better income than working as
farmers.
 Quang Ninh province's chief market
inspector Truong said it's very difficult for authorities to completely
stop the smugglers, who are motivated by huge profits.
 "They
bought the chickens for only 10,000 dong (62 U.S. cents) to 12,000 dong
(75 U.S. cents) per kilogram in China and sold (for) four to five times
as much in Vietnam," he said.
 Vietnam had
been hailed as a bright spot in Asia for combating bird flu after
starting a nationwide poultry vaccination campaign. No human cases were
reported in the country in 2006, but the virus flared again in poultry
early this year.
 The virus has killed at
least 200 people worldwide, but remains hard for people to catch.
Experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among
humans, potentially sparking a pandemic.
posted by Medclinicianhttp://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_GEN_VIETNAM_BIRD_FLU_ASOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-09-11-01-45-25

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	Vietnam seizes thousands of chickens smuggled from China in bird flu battle HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Authorities in northern Vietnam confiscated 2,500 chickens smuggled in from neighboring China, highlighting the challenges of stopping bird flu, officials said Tuesday. Authorities confiscated 1.3 tons of chickens found in a truck early Tuesday morning, said Nguyen Thang Loi, director of Lang Son provincial market control department. The chickens will be destroyed, he added. In neighboring Quang Ninh province, authorities on Sunday confiscated 4.3 tons of chickens smuggled in from China in two separate cases, said provincial chief market inspector Nguyen Dang Truong. Loi said his staff have confiscated some 50 tons of chickens smuggled in from China so far this year, while authorities in Quang Ninh have confiscated and destroyed more than 60 tons of the birds in the same period. "We are fighting an uphill battle against smugglers who use two-way radios to deal with us," Loi said. The H5N1 bird flu virus has hit Vietnam hard this year, ravaging poultry stocks across the country. It has killed 46 people in Vietnam since the virus began spreading in late 2003. Animal experts have blamed unvaccinated birds smuggled across borders for fanning the disease, but local officials have struggled to stop the illegal transport across Vietnam's long porous border with China. Loi said many local residents who live along the border have been lured to work as porters who haul chickens on their backs and could be paid up to 100,000 dong (US$6.2) a day, a much better income than working as farmers. Quang Ninh province's chief market inspector Truong said it's very difficult for authorities to completely stop the smugglers, who are motivated by huge profits. "They bought the chickens for only 10,000 dong (62 U.S. cents) to 12,000 dong (75 U.S. cents) per kilogram in China and sold (for) four to five times as much in Vietnam," he said. Vietnam had been hailed as a bright spot in Asia for combating bird flu after starting a nationwide poultry vaccination campaign. No human cases were reported in the country in 2006, but the virus flared again in poultry early this year. The virus has killed at least 200 people worldwide, but remains hard for people to catch. Experts fear it could mutate into a form that spreads easily among humans, potentially sparking a pandemic. posted by Medclinician http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_GEN_VIETNAM_BIRD_FLU_ASOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-09-11-01-45-25