E-Paper
Culling begins at five poultry farms to contain bird flu spread in Panchkula
More than 4.37 lakh birds have died in the Barwala belt, Asia’s second largest poultry hub, over the past month, leading to the culling of 1.66 lakh birds.
The Panchkula district administration started culling an estimated 1.66 lakh birds at five poultry farms in the Barwala belt of the district on Saturday, a day after samples sent tested positive for avian flu.
“We have formed five teams for poultry farms in the infected zone. The teams have been provided with support staff and police protection. The culling is being carried out in all five farms,” said Panchkula deputy commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja.
Culling started at Sidharth Poultry Farm at Kheri village in Raipur Rani in the afternoon. “We couldn’t start in the morning as the logistics and support staff were being put in place in these areas,” he said. Later in the evening, culling started at Nature Poultry Farm, Dhandlawar-Ganauli, Raipur Rani. At Sidharth farm around 1,000 birds and at Nature 2700 birds were culled on Saturday. The culling operation is expected to run for another two-three days.
On Friday evening, after it was confirmed that the large-scale deaths of birds at poultry farms in the Barwala belt were due to avian influenza, the Haryana government declared the outbreak, turning the area within a kilometre of the two epicentres as infected zone and 1-10km as surveillance zone. The other three affected farms are Narender, Naveen and Sunil farms in Kheri village.
So far, more than 4.37 lakh poultry birds have died in the area over the past month. The health department and animal husbandry team are also administering medicines to birds in other poultry farms.
Four schools in Raipur Rani have been designated as quarantine facility for members of the 12 rapid response teams involved in culling and other activities to contain the spread of the disease. Meanwhile, the Panchkula health department screened about 9,000 people for influenza-like illness in Barwala and administered 500 doses of Tamiflu as a precautionary measure.
Allow vaccination of birds: Poultry farm owners
Poultry farmers have demanded that birds in only those farms that have been affected should be culled.
“The government should allow for vaccination of birds in other farms, like in most of the other countries. Indonesia and Vietnam have developed the vaccine as it can protect the industry from outbreaks. The H5N8 virus shows no harm to humans and poultry can be saved by vaccination. If the government cannot provide immediate vaccination, it can be imported,” said Rajesh Singla, a poultry farm owner.
Darshan Kumar Singla, president, Haryana Poultry Farmers Association, said, “The government should compensate the poultry farmers as per the current costs of bird rather than those based on earlier computations. The current cost of bird is ₹400-450, but the government is offering only up to ₹90.”
Chhatbir Zoo closes bird enclosures
Mohali A day after chicken samples from Barwala poultry farms tested positive for avian flu, Chhatbir Zoo authorities decided to close its bird enclosures for visitors till further orders.
Earlier, on January 5, the enclosures were closed for five days .
Chhatbir Zoo field director M Sudhagar said: “There are possibilities that avian flu is carried by humans and under such conditions giving human exposure to birds may prove fatal. If more forensic reports come positive, then the closure will not be lifted till the animal husbandry department declares the area safe for birds.”
Three more dead birds found in Chandigarh
Chandigarh The carcasses of two crows and a third of an unidentified black bird were recovered from Leisure Valley in Sector 10 on Saturday, taking the total number of dead birds found in Chandigarh in the past five days to 13. The first two samples sent to Jalandhar had tested negative for bird flu on Friday. “We are waiting for the results of rest of the samples before sending more samples,” said chief conservator of forests Debendra Dalai.
Dr Kanwarjit Singh, joint director, animal husbandry and fisheries department, said active surveillance and monitoring of poultry population is being done in Chandigarh and no mortality or sickness has been found.
