05YEREVAN1905

Reference ID	Created	Released	Classification	Origin
05YEREVAN1905	2005-10-26 11:54	2011-08-24 01:00	UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY	Embassy Yerevan
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS YEREVAN 001905 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO KSCA ECON PREL SOCI IR AM EARG WHO SUBJECT: MASS BIRD DEATHS REPORTED IN NORTHERN IRAN

REF: YEREVAN 1856

Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly.

(SBU) On October 26, a local Armenian newspaper, citing the Iranian Students' News Agency, reported that 5,000 migratory birds died near the Armenian-Iranian border in the Atrpatakan province of Iran. The Iranian name for this area is West Azerbaijan. According to the press coverage, birds in the Atrpatakan region are dying at a rate of 70 per day. On October 12, the World Organization for Animal Health (French acronym OIE) reported that approximately 3,673 birds had died in West Azerbaijan. It is not clear whether the Armenian press coverage refers to the original OIE-reported deaths or a second wave of bird deaths. According to an October 26 article on the Tehran Times website, Tehran-based World Health Organization Representative Dr. Mobasher Riyadh Sheikh said there have been no observed cases of bird flu in Iran. He also said the dead birds from the West Azerbaijan province tested negative for the H5N1 virus.

EVANS