Pesticide, not bird flu, kills 100 maya birds in Bulacan

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CITY OF MALOLOS—About 100 maya birds were found dead in a farm in a village here on Saturday but veterinary officials quickly denied that the deaths are caused by bird flu.

Voltaire Basinang, Bulacan provincial veterinarian, said the birds died from pesticide sprayed on the palay farms.

Ferdinand Bautista, a resident of Barangay Sumapang Matanda here, said he found 100 dead birds scattered in a farm last week and alerted the authorities about the incident.

Basinang said his team could only account for three dead birds when it inspected the farm. Farm owners could have cleaned their farms of dead birds before veterinarians visited the place.

Based on its investigation, the team found that a farmer had sprayed his crops with pesticide before the birds were seen dead on the ground.

Incidents of maya birds dying from pesticide poisoning are common here, Basinang said. /jpv