Via Pauline Requesto
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has ordered all its regional offices to adopt measures to control the spread of avian influenza that affected several poultry farms in the town of San Luis in Pampanga province.
The directive came after the Department of Agriculture (DA) announced last Saturday that 400,000 birds will be culled after confirming the country’s first bird flu outbreak.
In a memorandum signed by Undersecretary for Planning, Policy and International Affairs Jonas Leones, the DENR instructed its regional offices to “suspend the issuance of permit or transport of any wild bird species from Pampanga and nearby provinces.”
The regional offices were also ordered to “strengthen enforcement measures, including strict surveillance in checkpoints, airports and seaports.”
They were likewise “enjoined to undertake regular monitoring of migratory bird sites to detect any incidence of wild bird die offs.”
Should they encounter dead wild birds, DENR field personnel were advised to immediately hand them over to the nearest DA regional office for the “collection and analysis of samples to detect avian flu.”
The samples will be added to those that will be sent by the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry to the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, which is a reference laboratory certified the World Organization for Animal Health, an intergovernmental organization responsible for improving animal health worldwide.
The DENR also urged its regional offices to conduct awareness and education campaign to protect the migratory birds and their habitats.
As soon as the news of the outbreak came out, the DENR’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) immediately cautioned the public against approaching migratory birds.
“We discourage the killing or poaching of migratory birds because this could only worsen the situation,” BMB Director Theresa Mundita Lim said.
As a licensed veterinarian, Lim cited a 2011 administrative order creating an interagency committee on zoonosis, which is defined as “a disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals.”
Lim said that there should be “proper epidemiological assessments” together with the DA and the Department of Health before making recommendations to manage the disease.
“The annual bird migration season in the Philippines is expected to start around September for their southward migration, and return to their breeding grounds by March in the following year for the northward migration,” Lim said.
The Philippines is a part of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which is essential in providing areas for the temporary refuge of migratory birds. (DENR-PR)
