Record Heat Wave Kills Over 830,000 Farm Animals

SOUTH KOREA - Hundreds of thousands of animals have died in South Korea, the government said Wednesday, due to a heat wave that is heading for a three-week streak.Over 830,000 farm animals, including 786,512 chickens, have been killed since 20 July, when midday temperatures began hovering above 33 C in most parts of the country, according to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, reportsYonhapNewsAgency. 
The dead animals include 40,780 ducks and 336 pigs. 
Such damages are often caused by power outages that can halt the ventilation and cooling systems at farms. 
The country was forced to issue power shortage warnings for two consecutive days this week as the sweltering weather pushed up its energy consumption to new highs, driving down its electricity levels to what officials called "dangerous levels" of less than three million kilowatts. 
"The number of animals killed may actually be greater, pending on a more thorough survey," a ministry official said, noting damages may also grow from the continuing heat wave. 
The country is also experiencing its longest streak of so-called tropical nights, where overnight temperatures stay above 25 C.

Suhu memberi kesan yang besar kepada fisiologi haiwan termasuk anak dan telur. Burung walet mempunyai had toleransi yang tertentu dengan suhu, sebab itulah ia berhati hati memilih suhu tempat pembiakan yang memberi kesan langsung kepada telur dan anak anaknya.

Vietnam H5N1 Outbreaks Reported

 

08 August 2012

VIETNAM - Six further cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 have been reported to the OIE.

The six outbreaks occured between the 16-27 of July.

In total 7004 birds were susceptible. The outbreak led to 5446 cases, resulting in 29753 birds being destroyed.

The outbreaks occured in the following regions:

• Thach Hoi, Thach Ha, HA TINH
• Cam Thach, Cam Xuyen, HA TINH
• Thach Tan, Thach Ha, HA TINH
• Thach Thang, Thach Ha, HA TINH
• An Thai, An Lao, Hai Phong
• Cam Quan, Cam Xuyen, HA TINH

The cause of the outbreak is still unknown.