Poultry Ban Impossible in Tourist Areas: Bali

By Barrie | September 15th, 2007 | No Comments

Head of the Bali Livestock Husbandry Agency Ida Bagus Raka said due to cultural and religious reasons it would be impossible to ban poultry in popular tourist areas on the island, including Kuta and Sanur, as urged by the tourism industry.

“It would be impossible to carry out the ban,” Raka said, adding the Balinese raise chickens to use for religious ceremonies and cultural purposes.

Most Balinese families raise chickens in their backyards and often let fowl roam freely in their neighborhoods. The National Committee for Avian Influenza Control and Pandemic Preparedness has said backyard farming poses a big threat and could help spread the virus.

The committee says backyard flocks increase the risk of human exposure and infections, because birds usually roam free to scavenge for food. As a result, backyard fowl often mingle with wild birds and share water sources with them.

Jakarta banned backyard farming from February this year and obliged bird owners to obtain health certificates for their pets.

In the wake of the deaths of two Balinese women last month of bird flu, as well as outbreaks of chicken deaths from the virus across the island, the tourism industry has urged the Bali administration to clear popular tourist destinations of live fowl.

On Aug. 12, 29-year-old Sri Widiantari from Negara, Jembrana regency died of bird flu, followed by 28-year-old Ayu Srinadi from Kediri, Tabanan regency on Aug. 21.

This bird flu outbreak was the latest blow for Bali’s tourism industry, which has only recently started recovering from the aftermath of terrorist bombings in 2002 and 2005.

Head of the Bali chapter of Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI) Cok Oka Ardhana Sukawati requested the provincial administration remove live fowl from Kuta and Sanur tourist areas.

The plea was backed by the Bali Hotels Association’s executive director Djinaldi Gosana, who said hotels were willing to help compensate fowl owners.

PHRI is currently working with Karangasem regency in the eastern part of Bali to rid the Candi Dasa tourist area, a quiet beach town around two hours from Kuta, from poultry farming. The association intends to make Candi Dasa area a model for other tourist destinations.

Despite calls from the tourism industry, Raka said it was impossible to impose a ban.

“It is impossible to ban poultry but we have urged the public to put their birds inside cages and to vaccinate them,” he said.

Despite bird flu outbreaks, the number of tourist arrivals has rose by 35 percent from 552,573 in the first semester of 2006 to 745,949 in the same period this year.

The Bali administration since 2003 has regulated animal traffic to Bali in an effort to prevent the spread of bird flu on the island.
The virus was first discovered on the island in 2003 and has been endemic since 2005.

Prodita Sabarini