Owners of fowls who do not hold their poultry in courtyards will receive administrative sanctions starting March 6

Holders of fowls who violate the requirements to hold their fowls in courtyards will receive administrative sanctions. Starting Monday, March 6, they will pay fines of 50 minimal salaries or 900 lei. The state chief veterinary doctor from Chisinau, Radu Mudreac, said that though veterinary doctors call on farmers to close their fowls for more than two months, but their appeals are ignored. From this reason, Mudreac noted, households will pay 900 lei, while poultry enterprises will pay 120 minimal salaries or 2,160 lei. The penalties will be applied in line with the Moldovan Code of Administrative Contraventions and it is part of the action plan on prevention of bird flu. Veterinary doctors, district police and representatives of local public authorities hold prophylaxis activities in private farms. They insist that households keep their poultry in courtyards in order to avoid the contact of fowls with the birds of passage and eventual infection with bird flu. Starlings will come back to Moldova the next 2-3 weeks, while swallows will return in April after winter. Some of these birds spend the winter in the Turkish Dardanele gorge, where some bird flu hotbeds have been discovered. According to Mudreac, the hotline continues to work round o’clock. If the fowls behave strange or they are in suspicious condition, the holders must call up 742-511 for consultations on bird flu, its symptoms, Mudreac added. A national programme was launched to train fowl breeders against bird flu. Its administrators hope that at least 100,000 persons will learn the bird flu danger within this project.