The Hong Kong government said Monday it is preparing to introduce centralized slaughtering of chickens and ducks to reduce the risk of a bird flu outbreak in the city, according to dpa. A consultancy study into the idea of a central slaughter house has been completed and has found it is feasible and could be introduced with private companies involved in the operation. Currently, chickens and ducks are slaughtered in markets across the city of 6.8 million where crowded market conditions have been blamed for previous bird flu outbreaks. Bird flu jumped the species barrier in Hong Kong in 1997, infecting 18 people and killing six in the first human outbreak of modern times. Deputy health secretary Eddie Chan said: "The preliminary findings of the consultancy study indicate that it is quite feasible to construct a regional slaughter centre. "Also, it is feasible to look at the project from a private sector involvement point of view. We are now considering the findings of the study and we hope to be able to make a decision very soon." Hong Kong slaughtered millions of chickens and ducks to stop the 1997 outbreak spreading and has since introduced a range of safeguards against a fresh outbreak of the H5N1 virus. --more 1306 Local Time 1006 GMT
