Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BANGKOK4613
2006-07-28 13:31:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Bangkok
Cable title:  

AVIAN INFLUENZA AND FIGHTING COCKS IN THAILAND

Tags:  TBIO EAGR KFLU PGOV PREL SOCI XE 
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RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHNH RUEHPB
DE RUEHBK #4613/01 2091331
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281331Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0564
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 004613 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/AIAG/JLANGE
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/STC/MGOLDBERG AND PBATES
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/PCI ANNE COVINGTON
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IHA/DSINGER AND NCOMELLA
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID/ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL
DEPARTMENT PASS CDC ATLANTA
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR OSEC AND APHIS
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR FAS/DLP/HWETZEL AND
FAS/ICD/LAIDIG
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR OSD/ISA/AP FOR LEW STERN
PARIS FOR FAS/AG MINISTER COUNSELOR/OIE
ROME FOR FAO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TBIO EAGR KFLU PGOV PREL SOCI XE
SUBJECT: AVIAN INFLUENZA AND FIGHTING COCKS IN THAILAND

REF: BANGKOK 4530

BANGKOK 00004613 001.2 OF 002


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 004613

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/AIAG/JLANGE
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/STC/MGOLDBERG AND PBATES
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/PCI ANNE COVINGTON
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IHA/DSINGER AND NCOMELLA
DEPARTMENT PASS TO USAID/ANE/CLEMENTS AND GH/CARROLL
DEPARTMENT PASS CDC ATLANTA
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR OSEC AND APHIS
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR FAS/DLP/HWETZEL AND
FAS/ICD/LAIDIG
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FOR OSD/ISA/AP FOR LEW STERN
PARIS FOR FAS/AG MINISTER COUNSELOR/OIE
ROME FOR FAO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TBIO EAGR KFLU PGOV PREL SOCI XE
SUBJECT: AVIAN INFLUENZA AND FIGHTING COCKS IN THAILAND

REF: BANGKOK 4530

BANGKOK 00004613 001.2 OF 002



1. In a public address on July 26, Prime Minister Thaksin
said it was imperative that local villagers report unusual
poultry deaths to and register all fighting cocks with
authorities. Thaksin said, "The case in Phichit (Province)
is that villagers wanted to get rid of all their dead
chickens on their own because they were afraid the
authorities would cull the rest of their birds." Referring
to the 17-year-old boy who died earlier in the week,
Thailand's first human case of H5N1 avian influenza in more
than eight months, Thaksin said, "He had been in contact with
fighting cocks, which were not declared for fear they would
be culled by authorities." Poultry die-offs have been
occurring in Thailand's central and north central provinces
for over a month, but many farmers and householders bury
their dead chickens without informing the authorities, making
it impossible to obtain fresh specimens for laboratory
testing. So far, the only bird that has tested positive for
the H5N1 virus was the carcass of a fighting cock in Phichit
Province.


2. Thaksin's comments point out a situation that may be
unique to Thailand and that may account for some farmers'
unwillingness to report poultry deaths. Many households in
Thailand raise fighting cocks, which can be worth thousands
of dollars, along with free-range chickens. Thailand has a
program for compensating farmers for culled chickens, but
working out a method for evaluation and compensation of
fighting cocks is more problematic.


3. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and

BANGKOK 00004613 002.2 OF 002


Cooperatives, Thailand has as estimated one million fighting
cocks, but less than 50,000 are registered. Although
Thailand vaccinates fighting cocks and even issues them
passports with their vaccination records so they can travel,
much of the trade in fighting cocks is illegal, and thus
movement of these birds is often kept hidden. In September
2005, provincial authorities in Kamphaeng Phet, which borders
Phichit Province, blamed a poultry outbreak there on the
clandestine movement of H5N1-infected fighting cocks within
the province. Several of Thailand's 2005 reports to the
World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) include fighting
cocks in their description of affected populations in poultry
outbreaks in the central and north central provinces.


4. Fighting cocks may play a role in avian influenza across
borders as well. In 2004, in Kota Baru, Malaysia, several
fighting cocks that died of H5N1 infection were thought to
have been smuggled into the country from Thailand.
Indonesia's March 10, 2005, report to the OIE of a poultry
outbreak states the source of the outbreak as the "illegal
movement of animals from neighboring countries (imported
fighting cocks)."


5. Comment: Fighting cocks appear to play some role -
perhaps an important role - in the avian influenza milieu;
more attention should be paid to studying that role, and more
effort should be placed on controlling their movements, but
because of the secretiveness associated with them, that will
be a difficult task.
ARVIZU