BANGKOK, Jan. 30 (Xinhuanet) -- Bangkok's two famous zoos, Dusit Zoo in central city and Khaow Khiew Open Zoo in a suburb, closed their doors to visitors Friday following the suspicious death of two birds in Dusit Zoo, the Thai News Agency reported.

    Thai Environment and Natural Resources Minister Prapat Panyachatraksa, who ordered the closure, said that although laboratory tests were still being conducted to determine the causeof the birds' death, but the zoos had to close so that zoo officials could clean the aviaries and spray the cages with disinfectant.

    He conceded that the risk of avian flu infection at Khaow KhiewZoo was higher than Dusit zoo, due to its nature as an open zoo.

    He also noted that if the laboratory tests proved negative for bird flu, the remaining birds in the two zoos would not be destroyed due to their conservation status.

    However, Prapat revealed that he had ordered the destruction ofIndian peacocks in Suphan Buri Province as their proximity to chicken farms had enabled them to contract the virus more easily.

    Thailand so far has declared 29 provinces including Bangkok to be bird flu control zones, in which all poultry within a five-kilometer radius of areas where infected birds had been detected will be killed and transporting chickens within a 50-kilometer radius is prohibited. Enditem