Chickens will come home to roost, warns MPK

PETALING JAYA (Feb 6): Poultry farming, big or small, is prohibited in residential areas, warns Klang Municipal Council (MPK).

House owners who pay no heed will risk having their backyard fowls, along with their coops, seized, the council’s Health Department was quoted saying in The Star today.

“Our health policies are clear. We will not tolerate owners of residential units who rear chickens, geese, turkeys or ducks because there is a risk of the birds getting diseases that can affect humans,” said department director Azmi Muji,

He pointed out the importance to get tough on those who flout the law, especially following the current H5N1 strain of bird flu at a farm in Shaoyang City in the southern province of Hunan, China.

Act 172 of the Town Country Planning Act 1976 forbids breeding or keeping of livestock in housing areas.

“Rearing poultry is not allowed as it contravenes the council’s hygiene regulations. If we come across houses where chickens are kept in the backyard, we will issue a notice and upon expiry of the 30-day grace period, any chicken or coop still on the premises will be seized,” he stressed.

Reuters reported that China authorities had culled 17,828 poultry following the bird flu which broke out on a farm rearing 7,850 chickens, of which 4,500 had died from the disease.

On Monday, MPK received two complaints from Taman Gembira, of chickens causing nuisance and roosters crowing.

Council officers visited the house owners — a terrace and a bungalow — and issued them a verbal warning from the Complaints Unit. If they did not remove the birds within the next few days, they would be fined by MPK Health Department, which will drop by within one week.

If the owners fail to comply, they will be issued a 30-day notice, and if the birds are still around after that, they will be confiscated. The offence carries a compound of RM1,000 or six months' jail time.

In 2018, MPK’s Health Department seized 10 Malaysian Serama chickens in a cage built on the road shoulder in Taman Gembira. Last year, it trapped one wild rooster in Taman Sentosa, and last month, 12 fighting cocks belonging to an Indonesian construction worker were seized in Meru.