By IANS
New Delhi : As Avian flu fears deepened in India, the government Friday said it was considering culling birds in areas that neighboured bird flu-hit West Bengal, even as the death of two migratory birds in Jammu created considerable panic.
“We are seriously considering culling birds in areas that fall within five kilometres of West Bengal. We are working out the logistics,” Animal Husbandry Commissioner S.K. Bandyopadhyay told reporters here.
He said the suggestion came from technical expert committee members in order to contain the spread of the virus from one state to another.
“This measure will be taken in the states that borders the bird-flu hit districts of West Bengal,” he said, without naming the states where culling operations would begin.
Meanwhile, two migratory birds were found dead by a forest ranger in Jammu, sparking fears in the region that has so far been free of the deadly H5N1 virus.
“They could have died of any reason. It is too early to jump to conclusions. There were 10,000 migratory birds and out of the total two were found to be dead,” Bandyopadhyay said.
The state has sent the samples to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal to find the cause of their death.
Bandyopadhyay said that the veterinary doctor in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district who was suspected to have been infected with the virus was discharged after he tested negative. He had been kept in isolation.
Bird flu has spread to 13 of West Bengal’s 19 districts since the outbreak was confirmed Jan 15.
Bandyopadhyay said that 231,966 eggs and 60,810 feed had been destroyed by Thursday and that a total of 421 Rapid Response Teams had been engaged for the purpose.
On Jan 31 alone, 210,000 birds were culled, taking the total figure since the outbreak to 2.72 million. “The revised target of culling is now 2.77 million,” he said.
The official said no fresh case of the virus was reported on Friday and also ruled out a bird-flu outbreak in Haryana.
“The dead bird found in Haryana was found to be infected with chronic respiratory syndrome along with a bacterial syndrome,” Bandyopadhyay clarified.