The Hong Kong government defended the territory's new law banning backyard poultry farming, while a poultry owner sought a judicial review in an effort to overturn the anti-bird flu law.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has refused to pay direct compensation for confiscated birds, saying it could encourage people to smuggle birds from the mainland. The farmer seeking review had been refused compensation earlier.

Facing criticism of the poultry ban from legislators as well as poultry owners, the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau on Tuesday said the ban is needed to protect the health of the public, poultry keepers, their families and neighbors.

In response to a villager's decision to file a judicial review application, the bureau said that lacking biosecurity arrangements or systematic vaccination, backyard poultry is susceptible to infection by wild or migratory birds carrying the H5N1 virus.

Bird flu is a global issue, the bureau said, and every government should take swift action to prevent human cases, which have a fatality rate of more than 50 percent.

A villager from the New Territories on Tuesday applied for a judicial review of the government's latest ban on keeping backyard poultry. The woman, who had been denied compensation, urged the government to compensate poultry owners for confiscated birds. She later filed for review.

On February 8, the government gazetted legislative amendments to the Public Health (Animals and Birds) (Licensing of Livestock Keeping) Regulation and the Waste Disposal Ordinance to ban backyard poultry keeping.

With the introduction of the amendments, households are not allowed to keep any backyard poultry and birds have been confiscated.

Unauthorized keeping of five kinds of poultry would be punishable by a fine of HK$50,000 to HK$100,000 (US$6,400 to US$12,900).