Culling of fowl starts in Rourkela after bird flu virus found in domestic chicken

After confirmation of bird flu virus in backyard poultry birds (domestic chickens and ducks), culling of household poultry fowls started yesterday at Kacharu village of Kuanrmunda block, about 15 km from Rourkela. As many as 633 poultry birds and chicks were culled till last afternoon at Kacharu by the culling teams, which were accompanied by the police.

According to chief district veterinary officer (CDVO) Dr DK Patnaik, the culling exercise would continue till all the 1,125 backyard poultry birds, identified in 1 km radius of the infected zone, and were removed.

The decision of culling the birds was taken by the district administration following a sample poultry bird tested positive for avian influenza. The test was carried out by the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, on Friday. According to Dr Patnaik, an adult duck, 216 female poultry birds, 416 chicks and 141 eggs were culled, and the carcasses were scientifically buried at a safe isolated location with application of disinfectants.

The culling process involved five culling teams, a hygiene team, a sanitation team and one supervision team. A police force was also pressed into service for the culling process, he added.

Dr Patnaik said surveillance was continuing in 10 km of the infected zone at Kacharu and if required, culling exercise would be extended to other areas.

Meanwhile, two samples of chicken were found positive for H5N1 bird flu in Kadaiya village in Daman district following which the administration had prohibited import, sale and storage of poultry products, and banned restaurants from serving chicken and egg products for a month.

"Due to positive sample of H5N1 (bird flu/avian influenza), the Kadaiya village area is hereby notified as 'infected area' and the whole Daman district is notified as 'surveillance zone' for a period of 30 days till February 7, 2017," said a notification issued by district administration.

"In pursuance of probability of H5N1 in Daman district, the import, sale and storage of all poultry product particularly eggs, chicken, ducks, etc, are prohibited for a period of 30 days up to February 7, 2017," another order said.