E-Paper
Bird flu scare: Mohali admn starts sampling of poultry
The samples of live chicken will be sent to Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar, for testing on Monday, said animal husbandry department officials.
Ramping up precautions against bird flu in the district, the Mohali animal husbandry department on Sunday collected 100 samples of live chicken from nine poultry farms and meat shops in Kharar area.
These samples will be sent to Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (NRDDL), Jalandhar, for testing on Monday, said officials.
“After the Barwala (Panchkula) incident, we do not want to take any risk. We have issued directions to 30 veterinary officers to start sampling live chicken in their jurisdiction. Every day, 50 samples will be collected across the district,” said Sangeeta Toor, deputy director, Mohali animal husbandry department.
The directions were issued during an emergency meeting called by Toor on Saturday, wherein the officers were asked to intensify surveillance of poultry farms as well as meat shops in the district.
The deputy director said that teams will collect live poultry samples as per the specifications and directions issued by the NRDDL to avoid inconclusive reports during testing in the lab. Recently, samples taken from chicken carcasses by the animal husbandry department of Panchkula had turned out inconclusive at the time of testing, following which a team of NRDDL arrived at Barwala and took the samples again.
Meanwhile, Toor confirmed that so far there was no report of chicken deaths from any of the poultry farms situated in Dera Bassi, Lalru, Zirakpur, Gharuan and Banur.
7 more dead birds found in Chandigarh
Chandigarh Seven more dead birds were found in the city on Sunday, taking the total count to 20 in six days.
Chief conservator of forests Debendra Dalai said the seven birds include two crows, three pigeons and two mynahs. “They were recovered from Sectors 5, 7, 33, 39 and Daria village,” he said.
Samples of first two birds sent to the Jalandhar lab had tested negative for bird flu on Friday.
Dalai said results of other samples are likely to come back by Monday. “Till then, we will not send any more samples of any dead bird found in isolation,” he said.
