Thailand on alert as one million chickens die
Health authorities have stepped up measures to prevent an outbreak of infectious diseases after more than one million chickens died last weekend in closed poultry farms in Ayutthaya’s flood-hit Bang Pa-in district.
Millions of chickens drowned after the farms were submerged by flood water. Most of their bodies were stuck in the “closed” farms, but the decaying carcasses were now causing a bad stench after being underwater for a month.
“We are now asking the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry to sanitise water around the chicken farms, by using EM liquid,” Public Health Minister Witthaya Buranasiri confirmed. EM refers to Effective Micro-organisms, which would be used to break down toxic materials in the carcasses.
People were advised to keep chicken carcasses in a trash bag or well-wrapped in a plastic bag, and give them to livestock officials so they can get rid of the bodies without causing any health problems.
Livestock Development Department director-general Trissadee Chaosuancharoen and his team inspected farms yesterday. “Though disease outbreaks caused by flooding have not yet been confirmed, people cannot afford to be complacent about prevention,” he said.
Damage from Thailand’s worst flooding in decades continued to mount as parts various industrial estates were inundated and residents worried that Bangkok remained vulnerable despite recent receding waters.
Source: Bangkok Post
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