Bhubaneswar: The state government Tuesday failed to undertake culling of chicken at the bird flu-hit Keranga village in Khurda district due to stiff opposition from the local residents.
The villagers demanded that culling start from a nearby poultry farm on the outskirts of village and more compensation proportional to the cost of each bird culled, Khurda district collector Niranjan Sahu said.
Though the members of the culling teams were all set to start culling of the birds after the state government declared Keranga village near Jatni as the epicentre of the H5N1virus, they could not proceed due to resistance from the public, Sahu said
Three rapid response teams, which were mobilised to take up culling operation, failed to kill any bird in the village on the first day.
Fisheries and animal resources department secretary BP Sethi, however, said the virus was detected in the same village in 2012 when more than 30,000 birds were culled.
‘‘Now, the epicentre of the virus has been identified. Three Rapid Response teams have been formed to cull 2000 birds in 1 km radius of the infected place”, Sethi added.
The district collector said there was no poultry farm within one km radius of the village.
A huge pit has been dug to bury the culled birds and elaborate arrangements have been made for
disinfecting the area.
Earlier, the government had ordered culling of over 2,500 chickens and other poultry after four dead crows and three dead poultry tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus.
The H5N1 strain is considered highly pathogenic. It can also transmit to animals such as pigs, horse, large cats, dogs and occasionally humans.
Meanwhile, an alert has been sounded at Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara after Animal Disease Research Institute (ADRI) here affirmed the presence of H5N1 virus in the dead crows and poultry at Kerang.
China has reported two fatalities from H7N9 bird flu last week, its first fatalities among this winter’s cases, stoking fears the virus could spread at a time when other Asian nations are battling to control outbreaks of the
disease.
Agencies
