More than 1 million homing pigeons have been confined to their pens in Beijing as bird flu spreads across China, but their keepers seem to be going stir crazy, doubting whether the confinement will save them from the disease.

Wang Xuejun, a member of the local association of homing pigeons, locked down his flock of 50 pigeons two weeks ago when he heard about the first bird flu case reported in China. He cleans the cages twice a day, using three different brands of disinfectant, and even decreased the mesh size for fear that passing sparrows will spread the deadly virus.

"I am really nervous. Some of my pigeons have earned me tens of thousands of yuan in races, and some are very rare varieties," said Wang.

March is usually the busiest season for homing pigeons, and Wang usually flies his birds in morning and evening training sessions in February. This year, however, the birds face a bigger challenge than racing.

Since Jan. 27 when the Chinese mainland confirmed its first case of bird flu in southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, more than 1.21 million chickens, ducks and geese have been slaughtered.

New outbreaks are still emerging. Confirmed or suspected bird flu cases have been reported in 14 of the country's 31 provincial-level regions, including the remote northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and the flourishing eastern Shanghai municipality.

Though live poultry in infected areas have been vaccinated, an official surnamed Yang with the bird flu control team under the Agriculture Ministry said researchers had yet to develop a vaccine specially for pigeons, which should be different from those used for consumer poultry at least in dosage.

Yang said Beijing had reported no pigeon infections and there was no scientific proof to support the virus transmission from pigeons to humans.

However, many advocate the eradication of pigeons because of the large amounts of excrement they produce. "They are a major menace from time to time," said Wan Fan, a resident in Beijing's eastern Tongzhou District, who has long complained about the 20 birds raised by his upstairs neighbors.

Chang Ruixiang, also a member of the Beijing association for homing pigeons, disagreed. Members of the association are required to clean cages once or twice daily and to disinfect them at least once a week at usual times.

On Feb. 4, the association held a meeting to order more frequent disinfection and immediate clearance of excrement and feathers. The State General Administration of Sport also issued a notice the same day to suspend all training, races, exchanges and sales of homing pigeons between China and infected countries and regions, including Thailand, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Chang believes pigeon owners will be very aware of the danger of bird flu as homing pigeons are usually expensive and the dearest imported species are worth hundreds of thousands of yuan each.

Beijing has over 20 branches of the association and about 23,000 member households, who raise over 1 million homing pigeons.

Granny Liu, 70, a resident of Beijing's southwestern Fengtai District, was vexed about the immunization of her two peacocks, which she mistook as a pair of "geese" and bought home in 2001.

After outbreaks of bird flu were reported in China, local officials in charge of epidemic control have tried to visit her home many times, but were all blocked at door, as Liu was afraid that they would seize the birds and kill them.

"I am also scared of bird flu, but I don't know the correct way of immunization. I have planned to move the peacock nest out of the balcony and thoroughly disinfect it," she says.

The wild goose raised by Mr. Yan in Beijing's Xicheng District also proved to be to a treasure to its owner. Yan killed two hens at home last Tuesday in a bid to prevent bird flu, but he could not bear to kill the wild goose.

Feng Shaolin, a worker with a Beijing husbandry and veterinary station, said vaccines used for poultry may not be appropriate for rare birds. Owners should practice regular disinfection instead of immunization.

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2004)