Thirty cats kept by local farmers died suddenly in a bird flu-hit county in northeast China's Liaoning Province, but experts found the deaths were not related with bird flu infection.

The information was released overnight by Liaoning provincial animal health supervision department.

The cat deaths occurred between Oct. 25 and Nov. 9 at Gangtai Village in Badaohao Township in the bird flu-hit Heishan County.

The experts checked 82 cats still alive and the 30 dead ones in the village, and found no bird flu virus on them.

Experts suspect the cats might be poisoned to death.

Local farmers in Badaohao Township found some chickens dying and China's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the case as H5N1 bird flu in early November.

The county has since culled six million poultry within a radius of three kilometers from the epidemic site.

(Xinhua News Agency November 13, 2005)