No more chicken for tigers at Chinese zoo
submited by kickingbird at Nov, 8, 2004 8:23 AM from DeepikaGlobal.com
BEIJING, Nov 7 (Reuters) A zoo in southern China has pulled poultry from the diets of its tigers and lions to prevent a winter outbreak of the deadly birdflu, the Xinhua news agency reported today.
The move came after dozens of tigers were infected or culled in a bird flu outbreak at a zoo in Thailand last month.
Lions, tigers and other meat-eating animals at the Guangzhou Zoo in Guangdong province would keep to a strict regimen of beef, mutton, rabbit and no chicken for the next three months, Xinhua quoted zoo official Chen Honghan as saying.
China has reported outbreaks of bird flu among poultry this year.
Health experts fear the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has killed 12 people in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam this year, could mutate into a form that could be transmitted between humans.
In a large bird flu outbreak in Thailand´s Sri Rache Tiger Zoo in October, 51 tigers were culled and another 32 died from eating infected raw chicken.
The World Health Organisation said the deaths of the tigers had no implications for humans as tigers were not known to host the human influenza virus and thus be able to serve as a lethal genetic mixing vessel.
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The move came after dozens of tigers were infected or culled in a bird flu outbreak at a zoo in Thailand last month.
Lions, tigers and other meat-eating animals at the Guangzhou Zoo in Guangdong province would keep to a strict regimen of beef, mutton, rabbit and no chicken for the next three months, Xinhua quoted zoo official Chen Honghan as saying.
China has reported outbreaks of bird flu among poultry this year.
Health experts fear the H5N1 bird flu virus, which has killed 12 people in Thailand and 20 in Vietnam this year, could mutate into a form that could be transmitted between humans.
In a large bird flu outbreak in Thailand´s Sri Rache Tiger Zoo in October, 51 tigers were culled and another 32 died from eating infected raw chicken.
The World Health Organisation said the deaths of the tigers had no implications for humans as tigers were not known to host the human influenza virus and thus be able to serve as a lethal genetic mixing vessel.
- China: Two human cases of avian influenza A(H9N2) reported in Guangdong Province and Hunan Province, one human case of avian influenza A(H10N3) reported in Guangdong Province 2 days ago
- GISAID: H5N1 Bird Flu continues to circulate in the United States 3 days ago
- Canada: Highly pathogenic avian influenza in Nova Scotia, February 4, 2026 5 days ago
- UK: Bird flu (avian influenza): latest situation in England 12 days ago
- US: Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Detected in Ottawa County Backyard Flock in Michigan 14 days ago
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