B

ird flu has likely caused the death of thousands of chickens in Bantul, Yogyakarta, over the past two months, said the head of the regency’s Agriculture and Forestry Agency, Edy Suharyanta, on Wednesday.

He said that the chickens died suddenly without showing any symptoms, similar to death caused by the bird flu, adding that some areas in Banten are endemic to the virus.

Sumarwanto, a resident of Srigading, Banten, said that some 100 chickens died suddenly during the past two weeks and that they did not show any symptoms prior to their death. “They still looked healthy in the evening. Then the next morning, they would suddenly die with their heads turning red,” he said.

Since 2005, a total of 192 cases of bird flu have been recorded in Indonesia and have caused 160 fatalities.