STATEMENTON KOREA’S AVIAN FLU EPIDEMIC AND THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSE

By CARE and Action for Animals

The Korean government should put an immediate end to the mass slaughter of birds and instead expand the budget for additional human resources to reform the nation’s cruel factory farming industry.

Blaming migratory birds

The government has initiated another mass slaughter in response to an outbreak of avian influenza. Such outbreaks occur every two to three years, and each time the Korean government responds with a cruel mass slaughter in which animals are buried alive to save time. International condemnation of the practice led the Korean government to establish standard operating procedures regarding humane slaughter in 2013, but the government is not following its own guidelines. Whenever there is an outbreak of avian influenza, the government blames migratory birds for spreading the virus and encourages people to cook the meat before eating it. Nothing has changed since the last outbreak.

The Korean government is blaming migratory birds for spreading the avian influenza virus: numerous media reports state that more than 1,000 spectacled teals (members of a wild duck species also known as Baikal teals or Formosa teals) suddenly collapsed and died near the Dongrim Reservoir in Seongnae Township. The reservoir is about 10 kilometers away from the farm in Gochang County, North Jeolla Province, where this year’s first outbreak was identified. In a press release issued January 18, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture claimed that avian influenza had killed 1,000 wild ducks; however, 20 days later the statement was modified and the revised number was only 100. It came out later that the death toll for wild birds was only 70—that number includes 20 spectacled teals, as well as black scoters, whooper swans and bean geese.

This shows that the government is not being honest with the public. There are still more than 20,000 spectacled teals living near the reservoir and moving approximately 30 to 40 kilometers a day. It is impossible to prevent disease by seeking to control wildlife populations. The root cause of this epidemic is factory farming, and the only solution is to change systems within the industry.

  It is a well-known fact that migratory birds do not normally fall victim to avian influenza. Factory farms, which crowd animals into tiny spaces and subject them to incredible stress, are ideal breeding grounds for viruses. Animals kept in that environment are susceptible to infection, pneumonia, skin burns and eczema from constant exposure to methane and ammonia because they live in their own feces and urine. We ask the Korean government to take a step towards the radical reform of factory farming. The cruel mass slaughter of animals is never going to stop without meaningful change from the government.