After a tide of dead pigs sparked anxiety and anger among Chinese residents, officials now say they are investigating the cause of a mass die-off of at least 1,000 ducks in southwestern Sichuan province, sparking fears that they may have died from avian flu.
As official media reported that the clean-up of tens of thousands of rotting pig carcasses from a river in Shanghai was complete, officials in Sichuan's Pengshan county said that more than 1,000 dead ducks were fished out of the Nanhe river by Monday morning.
"The rotting carcasses [have] been disposed of safely and pose no threat to human and livestock along the river banks," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the county government as saying.
Workers packed the dead ducks into 50 plastic bags and disinfected them before burying them three meters (about 10 feet) deep, the agency said.
An official who answered the phone at the Pengshan county government offices said authorities still didn't know how the ducks had died.
"Not yet," the official said, when contacted by RFA's Mandarin service.
"It seems that the tests results have shown that the water in that area isn't polluted," the official added. "Nobody lives in that area, nor do they draw water [from the river] for their own personal use."
Local officials are investigating the source of the dead ducks, focusing on farms, Xinhua said.
Gruesome reminder
The dumping of at least 15,000 dead pigs into the Huangpu river in eastern China in recent weeks was a gruesome reminder of a far-reaching environmental crisis which has sparked fears over public health.
The ministry of agriculture in Beijing has blamed the tide of dead pigs on a lack of education among pig farmers.
While complaints and public protests about pollution and unsafe drinking water are increasingly common across China, the dead pigs quickly became a grisly emblem of people's worries about the effects of pollution on their health, and a target of online satire.
Netizens reacted to the fresh news of another mass die-off with skepticism. "The bodies were rotten," wrote user @cain123 on the Twitter-like service Sina Weibo. "How can they say there is nothing hazardous here?"
Henan-based environmental activist Huo Daishan called on the authorities to determine whether the ducks had died of avian influenza.
He said rotting duck carcasses would definitely have affected water quality.
"It is very important to determine whether or not the ducks had bird flu," Huo said. "As for the water itself, there will be rotting matter in there, and of course that is going to affect water quality."
"If they are saying there is no problem with the water, then let's see those local leaders drink a glass of it," he said.
Chaotic
He said the government's handling of such crises is irresponsible and chaotic.
"They lack a sense of responsibility towards local people, towards the environment, and towards themselves," Huo said. "They should be criticized for this; the local leaders shouldn't be saying that [water quality] is unaffected."
Huo said Chinese local officials have already become used to saying whatever they want when faced with a crisis.
"I think this needs an integrated approach, with the relevant departments, including the local disease control and prevention centers, the health departments, the environmental protection bureaus and urban construction departments all taking a multipronged approach," he said.
Reported by Yang Fan for RFA's Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.