Zanzibar tightens import controls over bird flu threat

Authorities on Tanzania's semiautonomous island of Zanzibar have intensified efforts to control the importation of chicken in a bid to check the threat of bird flu on the island. Hundreds of chickens smuggled onto Zanzibar mainland Tanzania were burned last week after importers failed to send them back. "Over the past three weeks, we have confiscated more than 400 chickens in total, smuggled into Zanzibar, and successfully ordered the sending back of about 120 chickens to where they were imported from," said Kassim Gharib of Zanzibar’s bird-flu taskforce on Monday. "We are prosecuting two people for illegally importing about 340 chickens." Gharib told a news conference in Stone Town, capital of Zanzibar, that the two people facing charges had failed to send back the illegally imported chickens to their point of origin, despite orders to do so. "If found guilty, the culprits risk a fine of not less than US$50 or jail term of six months or both sentences," he said. "The banning of the importation of the chickens also includes from the Tanzanian mainland to Zanzibar just for precaution purposes. We are taking these precautions to protect the health of our people from possible bird flu infection." The taskforce is part of the island's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Environment. Zanzibar banned the import of chicken and other poultry products in 2005 and also barred the delivery of 16 tonnes of chicken meat imported from Brazil in November 2005. The Tanzanian media reported last week that the mainland government had also reinforced its ban on poultry imports, fearing that continued importation of chicken was risky to humans and the local poultry industry. The deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu has already been reported in several African countries. The poultry industry in Asia and a number of European countries has been ravaged by the disease, which has also claimed dozens of human lives.