Officials in Takeo province are scheduled this morning to destroy and bury 159,000 duck eggs that were confiscated on Sunday after they were illegally smuggled from Vietnam, a customs official said Wednesday.
“I’m going to take part in this ceremony because we had strong success in combating smuggled eggs into Cambodia, where the bird flu is not found yet,” Takeo Customs Office chief En Sam Ol said.
The ceremony is scheduled to take place at the CamControl office in Takeo town, said a CamControl official who requested anonymity. Eggs will be smashed inside a 2-meter deep ditch, he said. Lime and rice husks will be added to cloak the eggs’ smell, he said.
The Ministries of Agriculture and Commerce last week banned the importation of poultry and eggs from countries known to contain bird flu. On Sunday, Takeo province customs officials seized seven vehicles laden with eggs from Vietnam.
Some bird flu cases have been found in southern Vietnamese provinces bordering Cambodia.
Following the ceremony, nine traders detained at the CamControl office since Sunday will be asked to sign letters promising to stop smuggling banned products, Em Sam Ol said.
Also on Wednesday, the director of conservation NGO WildAid said an unidentified illness has killed nearly 90 birds and sickened several animals at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Refugee Center in Takeo’s Tonle Bati district. The birds died without showing any recent signs of sickness, said WildAid Country Director Suwanna Gauntlett.
The birds—recovered from the illegal wildlife trade—included herons, black eagles, cranes and spotted wood owls. Several tigers and leopards, as well as a lion, also fell sick for six days but have recovered. WildAid sent samples of meat used to feed the animals to a university in Thailand, but tests for poison turned up negative, Gauntlett said. WildAid is also waiting for results on bird samples being tested at the Pasteur Institute in Phnom Penh, she said.
(Additional reporting by Kate Woodsome)
