Suez Governor: Prosecute Bird Flu Victims?

This seems to belong to the "You Can't Make This Stuff Up" category, except that it's in no way funny: the Governor of Suez in Egypt wants people who come down with bird flu prosecuted for illegally raising birds. Leftish blogger Hossam al-Hamalawy points to the story in Al-Masry al-Youm with the comment, "This is not from The Onion." No, The Onion is actually funny.

I commented during the Swine Flu furor that bird flu was a bigger problem but no one was proposing killing all the birds. It never even occurred to me someone might think of prosecuting people for getting bird flu.

Egyptian governors, in case you were wondering, are appointed, not elected. I don't know the background of this particular governor, but traditionally those in border governorates or strategically important ones like Suez tend to be military men.