The administration gives the owners of chickens, ducks, swans, pigeons and quails, two weeks to consume these fowls properly, sell them, or to simply destroy them from residential areas.

Only those owners with fowls infected with H5N1 virus would receive compensation as much as 12,500 rupiah (1.5 U.S. dollars) per chicken or bird.

According to the decision, starting February, the Husbandry and Fishery Agency would conduct door-to-door inspection and destroy these fowls forcefully without any compensation to residents.

"I hope all Jakartans could support this policy until the government declares that our region is free from bird flu. This is all for our own good," the Jakarta Post daily quoted Governor Sutiyoso as saying Wednesday after leading a bird flu meeting, which also attended by officials from Health Ministry and the National Commission for Bird Flu.

Source: Xinhua Online