Source : Bangkok Post, Thailand, 05 Feb '05
By : Ranjana Wangvipula
  

''The deaths were similar to those of last year, but this year the scope is smaller,'' said Schwann Tunhikorn, director of the Wildlife Conservation Bureau.

Open-billed storks are migratory birds that frequently visit Thailand. Their unusual deaths were first reported early last year. The bureau said yesterday that 496 birds died in Bung Boraphet wildlife refuge in Nakhon Sawan province, and 73 of them on Feb 3 alone.

Officials sent fluids obtained from the dead birds for examination at universities and the results showed some had contracted bird flu. Officials had tightened control measures after cases of human deaths from the disease were reported recently in Vietnam.

''The infected storks probably caught the virus from ducks while they fed elsewhere before flying back to their nests in the centre of the wildlife refuge,'' said Mr Schwann.

Wildlife officials have enforced strict measures to prevent the disease from spreading further by burning and disinfecting areas where sick storks have been found. But they have refrained from launching a mass cull, an issue that raised a heated debate early last year.

Some concerned parties demanded a cull, arguing the storks brought the disease with them to Thailand. But wildlife officials have argued the birds' country of origin, Bangladesh, has reported no bird flu cases. The officials said the storks probably caught the virus during their stay in Thailand. Officials also found doves in Chachoengsao, Sukhothai and Uthai Thani provinces had died of bird flu. In Lop Buri, a Zebra dove was also found dead from the virus.

Nirandorn Aungtragoolsuk, director of the Bureau of Disease Control and Veterinary Services, said tests confirmed chickens in Suphan Buri had bird flu.