HK monks pray for chickens' souls

[Guest guest]

HK monks pray for chickens' souls

AP, HONG KONG

http://www.taipeitimes.com/news/2001/05/21/story/0000086613

 

 

Buddhist monks prayed to pacify the lost souls of killed chickens, ducks and

pigeons on the third day of a mass slaughter of 1.2 million birds aimed at

stamping out the avian influenza.

 

Health officials in white gowns, masks and gloves sealed off chicken and

duck stalls in more than 130 markets in the Chinese territory's public

housing areas yesterday and slit the throats of some 53,000 birds. They

stuffed the carcasses into hundreds of garbage bags before hauling them in

trucks to landfills.

 

Officials said the massacre was a necessary precaution, even though the

disease has not affected humans. In 1997, six people died and dozens were

sickened from a deadly strain of the flu.

 

Rita Lau, director of Food and Environmental Hygiene, told reporters after

inspecting a market that the government is helping chicken stall owners wash

and disinfect stalls during a two-day temporary closure of the markets.

 

" We hope the repeated cleansing and disinfecting during the closure will ...

thoroughly get rid of the last trace of virus, " said Lau.

 

The mass slaughter in the past few days led a Buddhist temple to hold a

ritual yesterday to pacify the killed birds' souls and to compensate for

what Buddhists consider the sin of killing.

 

Hundreds of monks and followers in the Western Monastery chanted prayers

while the Reverend Sik Wing Sing prostrated himself in front of a plaque

erected for the dead birds.

 

" The lotus seat of the respectable souls of chickens and birds killed in the

avian influenza " outbreak, the plaque read.

 

Many stall owners lamented the loss of business and expressed fear of losing

their jobs.

 

" I'm worried about my livelihood, " said one chicken stall owner who

identified herself only as Wu. " In the long run, the supermarkets will take

away all our business. "

 

Since news of avian flu broke, many customers have shied away from buying

live birds in the market and opted for frozen stocks in supermarkets

instead.

 

One brave customer, who identified himself as Chan, rushed to the market

early in the morning before the slaughtering started.

 

" It might be months before we'll get fresh chicken again, I must stock up

now, " he said.