Iran bans hunting of birds to prevent bird flu outbreak

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran has banned bird hunting in its southwestern province to prevent the possible outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the official IRNA news agency said on Sunday.

"We haven't seen a case yet, but hunting wild birds has been banned to minimize risk of spread of avian influenza," IRNA quoted a statement published by Khuzestan's Environment Organisation office.

With thousands of migratory geese, ducks and other wildfowl heading for the province for the winter, local authorities are on high alert, the statement said, adding violators will be punished.

Iran's neighbors Turkey, Iraq and Azerbaijan have all reported deaths from the H5N1 virus but Tehran says it has so far found no human cases.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)