RIYADH, 6 December 2007 — Municipal officials are calling on residents in Riyadh to dump homegrown live birds and eggs at five locations in Riyadh as part of renewed efforts to contain the spread of bird flu in the region.
“The aim is to convince and motivate people to dump their homegrown poultry and birds at the sites, where they will be eventually culled and incinerated with utmost care,” said Suliman Hamad Al-Buthi, spokesman for Riyadh Municipality.
“The five districts where municipal personnel have been deployed to receive live birds are: Mooruj Vegetable Market, Otaigha Market, Rabwa Market, Badiya Bird Market and Aziziya Bird Market,” said Al-Buthi, adding that these sites have been designated to receive live birds and eggs.
“I would like to reiterate that all necessary measures are in place to prevent the spread of avian flu in the city,” said Al-Buthi. “Fresh efforts to stop the spread of the disease will be announced in due course.”
So far, more than four million chickens and other birds have been culled since the disease was first detected at a farm in Al-Kharj last month. The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed more than 200 people worldwide since late 2003, has only been detected at one place in the Kingdom so far.
Referring to the new measures taken by the Riyadh Municipality, Al-Buthi said: “We have withdrawn from shops a large number of eggs of certain farms.”
He added that the five dumping locations will be open from 12 a.m. to 5 p.m. “We have so far received over 10,000 live birds, mostly chickens... No poultry shop is now allowed to sell live birds in the city,” he said.
