Cull chicken the Islamic way, Muslims urged
KOTA BARU:KOTA BARU: Muslims should cull their chicken or birds infected by the avian flu or H5N1 according to the Islamic way, Kelantan Mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri Mohamad said.
The religion adheres to a practice where animals should be slaughtered in the most humane way possible, Mohamad said, adding that this should be done by those who rear freerange chickens or birds at home.
“Islam prohibits its followers to be cruel to animals and if culling is necessary to prevent the virus from spreading, then they need to slaughter the livestock accordingly,” he said.
If the public was unsure, he said, then wait for the authorities to assist but added that it was not wrong to act on their own accord as that could help prevent the spread of the disease.
“The people do not have to wait for the authorities to come and cull chicken or birds infected by the virus.”
The H5N1 virus was first detected in Kampung Pulau Tebu near Tunjong here on March 8.
Within a week, it spread to three other districts, Pasir Mas, Bachok and Pasir Putih.
State Agriculture, Agro-based Industry and Biotechnology Committee chairman Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi had announced the decision to declare a “state disaster” in accordance with the National Security Council Order 20 on March 15.
This allowed the mobilisation of resources from all state and federal departments to deal with the outbreak.
Meanwhile, two more new locations for avian flu were detect- ed in Pasir Mas, bringing the number of areas hit by the virus in the district to six.
According to the Veterinary Department’s statement yesterday, the new locations were discovered on Friday and following the detection, 10 samples were taken from two bird owners in the district.
“A total of 554 chicken and birds were culled, while 415 eggs were destroyed in yesterday’s (Friday’s) operation in the two new areas,” said the statement.
The statement also revealed that 28 areas in six districts were affected, involving 43 premises.
Kota Baru recorded the most number of infected areas with 14 locations, followed by Pasir Mas (six) and Tumpat (three).
As of Friday, the Veterinary Department had culled 30,927 birds and destroyed 11,804 eggs.
“The department has carried out surveillance at these locations and, so far, the officers had taken samples from more than 3,000 birds.”