Cablegate: Mass Bird Deaths Reported in Northern Iran

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

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