Shanghai Daily News

A ban on sales of live birds is being routinely flaunted at bird and flower markets across the city, and the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administration Bureau is taking steps to crack down on the situation.

The bureau banned the sales of all live birds last November over fears they could spread the bird flu.

Shopkeepers followed the ban at first, but a growing number of vendors are once again selling live birds.

At the Jiangyin Flower and Bird Market, the oldest such market in Shanghai, shopkeepers are selling live birds in public. Cages containing various kinds of spectacular birds hang all over the market, and chirping can be heard everywhere.

"Birds sold in my store are all bred at local residents' homes. They are very safe," said a female shopkeeper in the market surnamed Hao. "I live with the birds together everyday. If they were infected with avian flu, I would be the first one to be infected. But I'm very healthy now."

"That's not true," said Tang Sixian, an assistant biology professor at East China Normal University. "Many species of birds are impossible to breed artificially, including those on sale at local markets."

According to another shopkeeper in the market surnamed Fan, he had shut his store for a period of time in January, and started to sell wild birds again just several days ago. But he claimed he didn't realize the ban was still in effect.

At the Xinshigang Flower and Bird Market, some vendors tried to take customers to see birds they secretly raised in nearby homes.

"The ban is still in effect. We encourage residents to report us when they see businesses illegally selling live birds or chickens," said Zhou Shuguang, spokesman for the Shanghai Industrial and Commercial Administrative Bureau. "The shopkeepers will be fined if being seized."

Zhou said the bureau doesn't have enough people to patrol markets, so it will only take action if residents phone in tips about illegal bird sales.