SWEIHAN, UAE, 8 December 2005 — Three peregrine falcons drugged with
anesthetic are perched quietly on the floor of the Abu Dhabi Falcon
Hospital awaiting their turn to be checked for avian influenza.
They
were confiscated at Abu Dhabi airport where their owners tried to
smuggle them in with forged documentation, according to the hospital.
Although
no cases of bird flu have been reported yet in the United Arab
Emirates, authorities in the country’s capital Abu Dhabi are taking no
chances.
An elaborate prevention program has been rolled out and
a contingency plan involving the army drawn up to face the threat of
the disease, which has killed nearly 70 people in Asia since 2003.
All
exotic birds and raptors such as falcons have been banned from entering
the country and authorities are keeping close tabs on the comings and
goings of the local stock of falcons using a mandatory registration
system.
Emiratis, who are passionate falconers, can only train
their falcons inside the country and are forced to practice the sport
itself in places like Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Morocco as Asian
destinations are off limits this year due to the risk of bird flu.
The
deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has surfaced in neighboring Kuwait as
well as in China, Croatia, Romania, Indonesia and elsewhere since
October.
“Falconers and falcons have close contact. The falcon is
like a child for them, it’s part of the family,” says German doctor
Margit Muller, director of the falcon hospital, located in the town of
Sweihan near Abu Dhabi.
She says falcons can catch avian flu if
they fly behind or hunt infected birds, a real risk given that the UAE
is on the path of migrating birds and given the possibility that some
falconers may not abide by the rules.
“There is a possibility, we
cannot rule it out,” says the Bavarian vet, recruited four years ago to
head the state-owned hospital, the largest of its kind in the region.
In
addition to treating nearly 4,000 falcons a year, the hospital has a
quarantine facility for suspect birds of prey and a sophisticated
laboratory to test for avian flu in all birds.
Muller says the
laboratory currently runs almost 1,000 test samples per day from all
over the UAE, but can double that if need be.
“This gives us the
chance to detect it in a few hours even if it’s H5N1,” she says over
the shrieks of a falcon being treated in a nearby room.
“This in
my eyes is one of the most important things: Not only to know if you
have avian influenza but really to detect if it is pathogenic
(contagious) for humans.”
Muller says the UAE is taking the lead in the Gulf in terms of its readiness to tackle the threat of bird flu.
A
national committee is heading the effort, which so far has involved
closing down live poultry shops inside cities, inspecting farms,
training municipal and health workers on how to deal with the disease
and launching a public awareness campaign.
Migrating birds are
also being tested and quarantine facilities to house suspect birds are
being built around coastal areas and at airports, says Majed
Al-Mansouri, the committee’s secretary-general.
“We are taking our precautions. We are not in danger,” he says.
He
dismisses the threat of bird flu from falcons, arguing that unlike most
Far Eastern countries, residents of the UAE rarely come into contact
with live poultry, which is bred at state-of-the-art farms outside city
limits.
Mansouri says the only threat to the UAE would be an
Asian bird flu pandemic given the country’s dependence on low-income
workers from southeast Asia.
Mansuri has a detailed flow chart
outlining actions to be taken in the event of human infection in the
UAE. “Health officials quarantine the patient with the army’s help. In
the event of death: bury the body in an isolated area or burn it,”
reads one box.
Courtesy: Arabnews.com
