# 1819
In a bid to reduce the number of human bird flu infections in and around the capital city, Indonesia plans to outlaw the sale and slaughter of live birds within the city by 2010.
This comes a little more than a year after a much heralded ban on backyard poultry in Jakarta, and across that island archipelago nation. That ban fell apart in short order.
Its hard to fathom how restricting the sale of live poultry in one city in a nation of 230 million people will ease the bird flu crisis in that nation, but I suppose it's a start.
Unfortunately, we will have to wait at least two years to see if these regulations can be enforced, and whether they will have any real effect on the bird flu situation there.
Indonesia to stop live bird trade in capital to battle flu
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia will ban the trade of live chickens in the capital in 2010 to sharpen the fight against bird flu in world's hardest-hit nation, a livestock official said Monday.
Poultry will have to be killed at government-licensed slaughterhouses outside Jakarta before being transported to the market, Edy Setiarto said, adding that authorities would need two years to prepare regulations and business owners for the changes.
Currently, many customers prefer to buy live chickens, which are then slaughtered to order to ensure the meat is fresh.
Setiarto noted that 70 percent of Indonesia's soaring bird flu cases occur in Jakarta and surrounding districts. Last year, city residents were told they could longer keep backyard chickens, but the order appears to have been largely ignored.
"The government will improve efforts to stop the spread of bird flu," Setiarto said.
