The slaughter of more than one million chickens in Hong Kong has entered its third day. Buddhist monks chanted prayers to pacify the souls of the animals.

The monks oppose the taking of any life and believe the slaughter could bring disaster on Hong Kong.

They have been holding special prayer services and ceremonies for the souls of the dead birds, including releasing more than 600 kilogrammes of live fish into seas off Sai Kung in Kowloon on Tuesday.

"By releasing life back into the sea, it will be easier for animals and humans to come back into the world," one Buddhist said.

To boost support for the move, Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, has made public visit to two abandoned poultry markets.

But not everyone was reassured. Mr Tung was greeted with noisy protest by poultry farmers who demanded more compensation for damage to their business.

The authorities have extended a ban on live chicken imports from mainland China for another three to four weeks.

The killing is an attempt to prevent the spread of a new form of influenza known as bird flu, which has killed four and infected nine others.

More than 1,000 government staff have worked around the clock since Monday to kill 1.3 million chickens and an unknown number of ducks, geese and other poultry.

By Tuesday, more than one million birds had been killed, the Agriculture and Fisheries Department said.

Most were suffocated by carbon dioxide in sealed plastic bags. Others had their throats slit.

Fear ruffles feathers Countries throughout the world have banned imports of Chinese poultry meat.

South Africa, the first known country to reject poultry-meat imports from China, said it imposed the ban because of the bird flu outbreak in Hong Kong.

The ban was announced a day after China and South Africa signed an accord establishing diplomatic relations.

The United Arab Emirates also decided to ban imports of chickens and other poultry from Australia, China and Hong Kong to guard against any outbreak of the deadly bird flu virus.

Thailand's government is urging nationals to avoid Hong Kong altogether.
 

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