KARACHI, Oct 28: The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has suggested that the movement of the migratory birds be watched closely for some time before issuance of shooting permits as the hunting season is approaching fast.

The WWF chief Ali Hassan Habib on Monday said that keeping in view the rumours of bird flu, the movement of migratory fowl be closely watched. If a large number of deaths of the bird was reported, tests of the dead bird should be carried out so that a decision based on scientific evidence could be taken.

He said that in case the presence of the deadly virus ‘H5N1’ was confirmed, no hunting permits should be issued. He also called for precautionary steps in such a situation in order to prevent spread of the virus, which might pose a serious threat to local birdlife and poultry.

Mr Habib said that stricter monitoring along the route of the affected migratory birds, particularly southern parts of Sindh, would be needed. He urged people to inform the wildlife staff if they spotted a dead migratory bird.

He said that it was not yet clear how the bird flu was spreading, but there was a possibility that migratory water-birds –- duck, geese, wading bird, etc., – might be involved. He, however, stated that a risk to human life from the infected wild birds was extremely low and could further be minimized if coming in contact with a sick or dead bird was avoided.

Mr Habib said that so far there had been approximately 117 cases of a person having been directly infected with H5N1 avian flu in Southeast Asia. Of them 60 are known to have died, according to the World Health Organization. The virus has also been detected in Turkey and Romania.

There have been no confirmed cases of human-to-human transmission of H5N1 as yet, but at the greater risk is a person who is infected with the avian H5N1 virus and at the same time he contracts the ordinary human flu. In such a case, there may be a possibility of the emergency of a new strain that could spread from a person to the other, thus triggering a pandemic.

The WWF chief cautioned that the ducks should be avoided as the bird could be a silent carrier. A duck infected by the avian flu may pass on the virus without apparently falling sick. Domestic poultry, including chicken and turkeys, are particularly vulnerable to the epidemics of rapidly fatal influenza. Direct or indirect contact of the domestic flocks with the wild migratory waterfowl is a frequent cause of epidemics. Cooking destroys the virus so there should be no risk in eating the cooked fowl or poultry. However, handling of raw infected meat could transmit the virus, he warned.

He said that to reduce the risk of Avian Bird Flu transmission through the wild bird trade, a strict regulation of bird markets, as well as of the international bird trade, was essential, besides a strict monitoring so that smuggling of wild birds could be made impossible.

An international NGO working on birdlife, the BirdLife International, said that the H5N1 virus was spreading with recent outbreaks in China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and several regions of Russia, on top of them being the Southeast Asia, since the end of 2003. Although it is not yet clear how the disease was spreading, the movement of domestic birds seems to have a significant role whereas migrating water-birds may also be involved. Evidences suggest that the outbreak in China had its origin in domestic birds.

The BirdLife International says that in a recent instance in Kovsogol province of Mangolia, poultry flu had been detected in wild migratory birds that had not apparent contact with the domestic poultry.

The Avian Influenza Technical Task Force of the FAO, Rome & Bangkok, says that there is a potential risk that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 may have carried along the migration routes of wild water-birds to the densely populated areas in South Asian subcontinent and along the migratory flyways to Africa and Europe. Recent outbreaks of HPAI in Russia and Kazakhstan (in August) may be suggestive of the role of wild birds in the epidemiology of HPAI.

The HPAI, subtype H5N1 has been occurring in poultry in Southeast Asia since 2003 and until recently the outbreaks were restricted to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and China, but since late 2005, it has expended north-westerly and both Russia and Kazakhstan reported outbreaks in poultry as well as in wild birds.

The FAO says that more than 6,000 migratory birds have been found dead due to H5N1 infection at the Qinghai Lake Nature Reserve in Qinghai province of China between April and June 2005. The bird species killed included bar-headed geese (Anser indicus), great black-headed gulls (Larus ichthyaetus), brown-headed gulls (Larus brunnicephalus), ruddy shelducks (Tadorna ferruginea) and great cormorants (Phalacrocorax).

Meanwhile, Sindh Wildlife Conservator Ghulam Rasool Channa has said that a few hunting permits had been issued so far, but as the hunting season has not yet started, no hunting could be carried out on these permits. Hunting season starts from the first Saturday of November.

He said that he had also directed the wildlife staff to be more watchful and if upon spotting any dead migratory bird, they should bring it to the department for necessary tests.