Albania culls 2,000 hens to stop bird flu

TIRANA, March 9 (Reuters) Albania today planned to cull and bury close to 2,000 chickens in the southern Sarande area after a chicken was found to have died from the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, officials said.

Albania's first case of the virus was confirmed on yesterday. It was found 20 km north of the border with Greece, close to the Butrint lagoon, a known resting ground for migratory birds.

Veterinary teams clad in white protective suits swooped on the area, wringing the necks of fluttering chickens, then putting them in black garbage bags. One vet said they shoved live chickens in the bags to suffocate them.

''The villagers themselves are bringing their chickens in plastic bags,'' Agriculture Ministry spokesman Rexhep Shahu told Reuters. ''We are culling them as a preventive measure and we will be monitoring the situation for 30 days.'' Some villagers asked to keep their backyard poultry. ''Let me eat it, I don't care if I do die,'' said one elderly lady.

''The Minister has been saying it's safe to eat, so we have eaten them,'' added a man. ''We didn't eat the last four we had left because we're observing Lent (for Orthodox Easter)''.

Villagers were to get 700 leks (five euros) for a grown chicken and 400 leks (three euros) for a chick. Medical teams took blood samples to see if any villagers were infected.

The bird flu virus has spread rapidly since the beginning of February, and is now present in most European countries. It has infected 176 people worldwide, killing 96 since 2003.

Scientists fear it is only a matter of time before it mutates into a form that passes easily among people, triggering a pandemic.

REUTERS KD RK2250