As the weather gets warmer and migratory birds have begun flying northward, central government ministries and administrations as well as localities across China are taking measures to curb possible spread of bird flu by migratory birds.

The national capital Beijing issued an emergency notice on Tuesday requiring authorities of concerned departments and administrations to take necessary measures.

Prevention of bird flu must be preconditioned by natural protection, the notice stresses.

Statistics from the municipal forestry bureau show that Beijing hosts more than 350 species of birds, 80 percent of which are migratory birds, inhabiting mainly open water areas such as lakes in parks and mountainous areas in the suburbs. Around 30,000 migratory birds stop over at Beijing from March to May each year.

Migratory birds are suspected by many experts to be bird flu virus carriers.

Zhou Fang, a professor with the ornithological branch of the Zoological Society of China, said he found that the distribution and time of occurrence of bird flu cases in some Asian countries tallied with the migratory routes and time of Asian migratory birds.

This shows that migratory birds are likely to have "spread" the bird flu virus, Zhou said. "It's common sense that birds spread virus through its excrement."

He called on efforts to enhance research on species, number, habitats and migration rules of migratory birds, so as to prevent the spread of disease by the birds.

Shi Guisheng, deputy head of the Beijing forestry bureau, said Beijing has suspended birds dealings on markets and the imports of birds from other places of China and foreign countries.

Bird-watching activities are banned in zoos and efforts have been intensified to crack down on activities involving poaching and sales of wild birds, Shi said.

Beijing has set up 12 stations to monitor the movement and health conditions of wild birds at Miyun and Guangting reservoirs, the Summer Palace, Yuan Ming Yuan and some other major habitats of birds in the city.

A task force has been set up to monitor and research migratory birds.

The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture issued an emergency notice Monday requiring authorities concerned to monitor the habits and habitats of migratory birds to prevent the spread of bird flu.

The notice says a more thorough mechanism of monitoring and examination must be established and more detailed information about migratory birds, including breeds, habitat and habits must be gathered. It asks medical staff to disinfect the habitats of the migratory birds, collect their excrement and sanitize it.

Poultry raisers are reminded to segregate flocks from wild birds and government departments to promote publicity campaigns in rural areas.

Managers of zoos and wild animal breeding farms that have wide-open water surfaces should stay vigilant to prevent the entry of migrant birds, the notice says.

Previously, the State Forestry Administration called on efforts to prevent the spread of bird flu by migratory birds to the country's endangered bird species, ordering the country's endangered wildlife rescue and breeding centers to disinfect living and breeding pens, properly dispose of waste and improve safety inspections of bird food.

Exhibitions of birds, including the red ibis and cranes, are suspended and visitors are prohibited from entering the centers, under a decision by the administration.

The red ibis relocated to areas far from residential areas for breeding should live in quarantine, and activities of red ibis in the wild should be monitored.

The population of red ibis has increased to over 500 in November 2002 from only seven in the early 1980s.

Meanwhile, localities across China have intensified efforts to test bird flu virus on migratory birds.

Zoologists with lab based in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, announced on Monday that they found no bird flu virus in any of the 60 black-headed gulls caught randomly when hovering above the city.

Black-headed gulls, known in China as red-beaked gulls, migrate from Siberia to Kunming, dubbed a "city of eternal spring," each winter and have received warm welcome among locals and tourists alike.

In Beijing, forestry authorities have begun soliciting opinions among locals on how to prevent bird flu spread by migratory birds and well protect them.

Ornithologists in Shanghai are making sample survey of migratory birds which stop over on nearby islands in a bid to determine whether the birds carry the flu virus. Bird observation activities are also banned on these islands.

A city-wide examination is underway in birds breeding farms and pigeons at the downtown People's Square have been vaccinated.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2004)