MANILA, 8 October 2005 — Officials yesterday said they were looking into the possibility that bird flu may have caused the deaths of dozens of chickens in a town north of Manila which was close to a stopover site for migratory birds.

Veterinarians from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) took blood samples of the dead chickens in Calumpit town of Bulacan, about 40 kilometers northwest of Manila — the same town where a lower-risk version of bird flu was discovered in a duck farm in July.

“We’re still checking. At the moment we do not have a confirmatory diagnosis,” BAI Director Divino Catbagan told reporters.

News reports of the chicken deaths has sparked fears of bird flu, fueled by previous warnings that the deadly disease was being spread by migratory birds.

Calumpit town is close to swamplands where migratory birds from Siberia stop over to feed during the winter months.

So far, the Philippines has been free of the deadly strain of bird flu that has ravaged other Southeast Asian poultry industries and killed more than 60 people.

Catbagan said the owner of at least 50 chickens who suddenly died claimed that the fowls were kept in a coop but veterinarians reported that they appeared to be free-ranging in the area. He said the chickens were native poultry unlike the variety grown in commercial farms.

In July, officials quarantined a three-kilometer zone around the Calumpit farm where 230 ducks were culled following the discovery of the low-risk strain of avian flu. The ducks may have been infected by migratory birds, officials said. It was not immediately known how far the village where the chickens died was from the duck farm.

The Philippines has taken a number of precautionary measures against bird flu, including strict bans on poultry imports from affected countries, to keep it out.

The country’s 150-billion-peso ($2.72 billion) poultry industry employs 300,000 people.

Last month, Environment Secretary Michael Defensor ordered the suspension of permits to import exotic pet birds from 10 Asian countries hit by avian flu, and ordered a tight watch on ports of entry, smuggling routes and 55 swamplands across the archipelago that draw migratory birds. (With input from the Associated Press)