Home chooks safe for now

Government officials faced with a potential incursion of a form of avian influenza capable of killing people say they would not force poultry workers to give up keeping chickens and aviary birds at home.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's director of animal biosecurity, Dr Derek Belton, said a rule such as this, which would lower the risk of bird diseases spreading if they entered New Zealand, had not been seriously considered by the Government.

It seemed unlikely that the Government would legislate against poultry industry workers also having contact with aviary birds or chickens at home, Dr Belton said.

"It is not something that is regulated in other countries around the world," he said.

"I think there would be quite a lot of resistance to that.

"But there is obviously a disease control argument there, in terms of prevention," he said.

"If the groundswell were strong enough to ... go into legislation, that would be considered."

A senior epidemiologist, Professor Roger Morris, of Massey University, said that backyard flocks of chickens or caged birds kept outdoors could be infected, in the event that the disease entered New Zealand, perhaps in migrating wild birds.

New Zealand is not known to have had any forms of bird flu, including the potentially dangerous form spreading in Asia, but all types of birds can be affected.

Infections of domesticated birds or farmed flocks could raise the risk of human contact with the virus.

Professor Morris said owners of outdoor flocks should immediately report any unusual increase in sudden deaths in their flocks.

But Dr Belton said the ministry had not tried to stop workers in the poultry industry keeping a potential reservoir of infection at home.

"Some people would argue that it infringes on individuals' rights.

"There is an argument about whether your put that sort of thing into legislation or leave it as industry codes of practice ...

"With the people that work in our [MAF's] high-security labs, we don't allow them to keep birds of their own - that's part of their employment conditions."

Dr Belton said similar arguments could be made against all smallholders keeping animals, such as pigs, which could provide a reservoir for infectious diseases.

"We haven't yet moved in this country to the point of saying that we should regulate against the keeping of any livestock on smallholdings.

Such arguments had been made against the keeping of "backyard pigs" but had not been followed up with legislation partly because of the cost of enforcement, and partly because the issue involved cultural sensitivities. Many Polynesian households kept one or two pigs.

Similarly in the case of caged birds, there were "ethnic differences" in owners' attitudes to them.

Under recent changes to the Animal Products Act 1999, poultry farmers will be required from July 1 to produce a risk-management plan to reduce the hazards involved in primary processing operations.

That plan must include monitoring of water quality and concrete pads in sheds for washing down.

Threat from birds

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry animal biosecurity director, Derek Belton, says the greatest risk is from smuggled birds and then migratory birds. Most of the wild waterfowl likely to spread avian influenza were ducks and geese, and there was little migration of those birds to New Zealand.

The migratory birds which did come here - shorebirds such as lesser knots, ruddy turnstones, pacific golden plovers, petrels, and bar-tailed godwits - were less likely to bring the disease.

But the ministry would survey these migratory populations next spring to check the prevalence of avian influenza and avian paramyoxiviruses such as Newcastle disease.

Professor Roger Morris of Massey University says global temperature changes and the wide circulation of dangerous viruses in Asia might mean infected migratory birds could visit New Zealand. "We can no longer be confident of avoiding the disease in coming years."

- NZPA