BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL G. BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – As a precaution against avian influenza or bird flu, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) of Negros Occidental is monitoring migratory birds in the southern part of the province.
Sipalay City is particularly regarded as a “flyway” for migratory birds fleeing cold winter conditions north of the Philippines, according to Dr. Placeda Lemana, PVO officer-in-charge.
Together with the Bureau of Animal Industry, the PVO is regularly taking blood samples from migratory birds for laboratory tests.
Bird flu is a highly contagious viral disease caused by any influenza virus affecting several species of food-producing birds (chickens, turkeys, quails, guinea fowl, etc.), as well as pet birds and wild birds.
Other flyway areas identified by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources are also being monitored, Lemana said.
In 2020, 80 species of migratory birds were monitored in the province’s wetland areas, data from Negros Occidental’s Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office showed.
Among these were black-tailed godwits, great knots, herons, sandpipers, egrets, bitterns, and stilts.
Some of these birds are also listed as “threatened” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Western Visayas’ P30-billion poultry industry is now at risk following the detection of the region’s first cases of bird flu in Barangay Cagay, Roxas City in Capiz province.
Laboratory Result No. 4849-01 released by the BAI – Veterinary Laboratory Division on Dec. 2 showed the poultry serum and oropharyngeal swab samples from Barangay Cagay to be positive for influenza virus type A (IVA) subtype H5NI./PN
