Though China has claimed that no cases of bird flu have been found in Guangdong Province that neighbors Hong Kong, Hong Kong has many reasons to suspect that most of the dead birds found in North Lantau originated from areas along Guangdong’s Pearl River.
Hong Kong media found many poultry farmers in suburban Shenzhen by the mouth of Pearl River. The farmers admitted that they never vaccinated their chickens, and revealed that many chickens have died recently. The farmers did not eat the chickens, fearing they may have died of bird flu. Instead, they threw the dead chickens into the sea, as they routinely do.
An investigation on Feb. 7 found no poultry farming in Lantau Island.
This year China has had eight human cases of bird flu with five deaths, compared to only three cases in 2008. The eight cases were found in seven different provinces, but Chinese authorities stated there were no bird flu outbreaks in these provinces.
