Chicken stalls at the Xom Moi Market (Nha Trang).

Currently there remains a high risk of reoccurrence of bird flu epidemic. While a ban on the sales and transport of live poultry is still effective now, is it difficult to buy live chicken as we thought?

Going around the Xom Moi Market (Nha Trang), I found live poultry stalls. 1 or two people stopped to ask for the price, but finally left, maybe because they thought it was expensive. However, what I really wanted to know was that why live poultry continued to be sold in spite of a ban on the live chicken sales to prevent the bird flu outbreak. “No live chicken is sold in the market because frequent examination is taken,” said the Management Board of Xom Moi Market.” I and the management board came to the chicken stalls. The traders quickly put live chicken into their bags. We obviously confiscated and destroyed the live chicken.

The next day, I came to Dam Market (Nha Trang). This is the biggest trade center in Nha Trang, so I thought the control of the trade activities must be very strict. Nevertheless, what I found disappointed me. Going around the market, I couldn’t see any live poultry stalls. We came to the place where live poultry had been sold. I saw about 10 women, some sitting and some standing selling live chicken.

Live chicken put in a bag.

The management boards control the trade in the market, but they seemed ignorant of the trade of live chicken at the Dam and Xom Moi Markets. Mr. Vo Quoc Tuyen, Head of the Management Board of Xom Moi Market said: “The boundary between the market and the outside is just a street. When seeing us, the traders quickly passed the street which is under the control of the ward.”

Mr. Le Thang, Head of the Technical Bureau, the Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Animal Health said: “The cooperation between relevant agencies and local authorities has not been close. The transport of live chicken among localities is out of control.” Nationwide great effort to control the bird flu outbreak has gained great achievement and the bird flu epidemic has been successfully stopped. The Government has launched an official document to localities, relevant ministries, departments and agencies on the continued bird flu prevention and control which require close cooperation among management levels. However, it is still quite easy to buy live poultry as some consumers are still ignorant of the danger of the epidemic.

N.T