Gov't to test stray cats for bird flu

By Kim Rahn

Quarantine authorities will test stray cats for avian influenza after a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu was found in three dead cats.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Tuesday that by next week the quarantine authorities will catch and test 10 stray cats each from seven regions hit hard by the infectious virus that has resulted in the culling of more than 30 million chickens nationwide.

The decision comes after a bird-to-mammal infection of the H5N6 virus was confirmed in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, Saturday, with the deaths of domestic cats. The authorities suspect they were infected after eating birds infected with the virus.

So far, other mammals near the virus-affected chicken farms, including 1,830 dogs, pigs and cats, have tested negative.

“In 2014 when we had a case of a dog testing positive for the bird flu virus, some poultry farms had been feeding virus-infected chickens to dogs,” a ministry official said. “But now this practice is prohibited, and we haven’t seen a mammal infection at poultry farms yet since this season’s epidemic began in November. We see cat infections only in rare cases.”

The ministry said they would not slaughter stray cats or dogs indiscriminately because it would violate the animal protection law. “But we may consider euthanizing the cats if they test positive,” the official said.