REACTIONS TO POULTRY TRANSPORT AND SLAUGHTER BAN|禁宰禁運首日 台北家禽批發市場爆量

On the last day before the ban, Taipei's First Poultry Wholesale Market was swamped by twice the usual number of birds for slaughter. Some members of the industry agree with the policy, saying that they are willing to work with the government through these difficult times. However, the exclusion of battery-raised chickens from the ban has attracted criticism from animal rights groups, who said that this was a half-baked effort at controlling the outbreak. One final group of ducks was waiting for slaughter at the Taipei First Poultry Wholesale Market on the morning of the 17th. After the Council of Agriculture announced a 7-day ban on slaughtering and transporting poultry, the wholesale market will close down for disinfection for a week after this final slaughter. The Taipei Livestock Products Marketing Corporation said that 40,000 more birds were slaughtered on the 16th than on a normal day. It said that the number would have been even higher if the policy had not come as such a surprise. ==YU HSIU-YUEH General Manager, Taipei Livestock Products Marketing Corp.== The announcement was a bit rushed, so people had no time to prepare. (Was there a lot of complaining?) Of course there was. Many in the poultry industry blasted the government for the lack of warning before the ban. However, one feathering shop operator said that he agrees with this policy for the sake of worker safety. ==LIN HSIN-TSUNG shop operator== (So you think these measures are justified by the difficult times?) Of course I do. This doesn't just affect the birds, it affects humans too. Battery-raised chickens are excluded from this ban. The Council of Agriculture said that the exclusion is because such birds are raised indoors and have been minimally affected during recent outbreaks. However, animal-rights groups said that the exclusion represents a major gap in epidemic prevention efforts. ==CHU TSENG-HUNG CEO, Environment ＆ Animal Society of Taiwan== Saying that chickens raised in closed battery environments are unaffected by outbreaks does not stand up to scrutiny. This could lead to a gap in epidemic prevention. The Council of Agriculture said that this was a tough decision, but one that it had to make to control the outbreak. ==LIN TSUNG-HSIEN Minister, Council of Agriculture== During this very difficult time, we made a painful decision. Our first priority is to protect the safety of everyone. The Council of Agriculture emphasized that the most important priority right now is to prevent the virus from spreading. To encourage farmers to notify authorities of infections, the compensation farmers receive for culling infected birds will be raised to 80% of the market price for highly pathogenic virus strains such as H5N6, H5N2, and H5N8. TRANSLATED BY：JOHN CHEN 為了防堵禽流感H5N6疫情，農委會宣布17日零時開始，家禽禁宰、禁運七天，台北第一家禽批發市場從半夜開始就湧入大批要屠宰的家禽，數量暴增一倍，台北畜產公司表示，業者大部分措手不及，否則數量會更多。不過也有家禽從業人員認同這樣的政策，願意共體時艱。不過這次禁宰禁運排除了白肉雞，動保團體批評這讓防疫做半套。 上午的台北第一家禽批發市場，只剩最後一批鴨子等著屠宰，已經過了前一晚的屠宰高峰，由於農委會宣布從17號零時，家禽禁宰禁運7天，批發市場屠宰完這一批鴨子，就要全面消毒並休息七天，台北畜產運銷公司表示，昨天屠宰量增加四萬隻、比平時多了一倍，要不是政策宣布突然，業者措手不及，屠宰量一定更大。 ==台北畜產運銷公司總經理 游秀月== 宣布有一點倉促 讓大家都沒有一個備貨的時間 （所以裡面是不是罵聲連連) 那一定的啊 批評沒有緩衝期，業者罵聲連連。不過也從事家禽脫毛的原料行老闆，則認同禁宰禁運政策，也相信這是在保護從業人員的安全。 ==業者 林信宗== （那你是覺得要共體時艱是不是) 當然啊 這個不是只有家禽的問題 還有我們人的問題 不過這次禁宰禁運的家禽、排除白肉雞，農委會昨天說明，是因為白肉雞在室內養殖，近年來疫情也不算嚴重，但動保團體批評白肉雞一直有染病疫情，認為排除白肉雞，將大開防疫漏洞。 ==動物社會研究會執行長 朱增宏== 這個並不是說密閉式的白肉雞 就不會有疫情 這個說法是禁不起考驗的 這樣其實是可能會出現防疫漏洞的 農委會則重申，這是一個痛苦的決定，但為了防堵疫情還是必須堅持下去。 ==農委會主委 林聰賢== 我相信這個非常時期 我們做了痛苦的決定 第一個一定是 為了保障大家人身的安全 農委會強調當務之急，就是不讓疫情擴散開，也因此農民若主動通報，原本只針對撲殺H5N6家禽，提高補償金額，現在也調整為，檢驗出高病原H5N2、H5N8，撲殺補償通通提高到八成。 記者 林靜梅 吳嘉堡 陳立峰 台北報導