JEDDAH, 31 December 2007 — The death of a large number of pigeons at a public park in Al-Hamrah district in Jeddah is worrying both the general public and government officials.
On learning about the deaths, the Ministry of Agriculture yesterday sent a veterinary team to find out if it was caused by bird flu or some other disease.
Mahmoud ibn Saeed, assistant director general of Agricultural Ministry in Jeddah, told Arab News yesterday that the preliminary investigations by the doctors revealed that the bird deaths were caused by polluted water. The official said that similar cases were reported in the past. Then the deaths occurred after the birds drank water from sewages and other polluted sources, he said.
“The results of the laboratory reports on the bird deaths would be available shortly and there is no reason to panic,” said Saeed.
The ministry is on guard about any development related to birds in the light of the cases of bird flu reported from some parts of the Kingdom, he said.
According to the people residing close to the park, children and birdwatchers gather at the park daily and feed the birds. The people in the neighborhood are now worried.
So far four million birds including 13,500 ostriches have been culled following 14 separate cases of bird flu in the Kingdom. The disease was mostly reported at farms in Al-Kharj region, 80 km south of Riyadh.
