Panicky West Bengal farm culls birds
Feb 1, 2008 - 1:56:36 PM
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The World Health Organisation - has described the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal as 'serious'.
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By IANS,
[RxPG]
Kolkata, Feb 1 - Panic is the buzzword in avian-flu hit West Bengal. Overzealous workers at a poultry farm have culled their chickens without even informing the authorities, officials said Friday.
Workers at a poultry farm in Falakata town of Jalpaiguri district, about 750 km north of here, culled and buried their chickens following some unnatural deaths.
'We have conflicting reports from this farm Thursday night. Some said 500 birds had died while some said 200. What we gathered is that they panicked and culled the birds and buried them without informing us,' Jalpaiguri District Magistrate R. Ranjit told IANS.
'Our men have gone there and will collect the samples. We will also exhume the dead birds as it is possible that the birds were killed for compensation money,' Ranjit said Friday.
West Bengal Animal Resource Development Minister Anisur Rahman Friday said he was awaiting a detailed report on the incident. 'I have asked my department to enquire into it,' Rahman told IANS.
West Bengal has culled over 2.55 million poultry birds in 13 districts and has pledged to reach the target of 2.8 million by Saturday.
Rahman said culling had been completed in most of the major bird flu affected districts and the situation was now under control.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation - chief medical officer Deb Dwaipayan Chattopadhyay said at least a dozen farms are allowed to sell poultry products in the city. He asked people to consume chickens without panic.
A report of possible bird flu outbreak in North 24 Parganas' Baduria, about 50 km from here, is yet to be confirmed, the authorities said.
Earlier, Rahman said all poultry farmers and egg sellers would be compensated for their losses and each family losing birds to culling or deaths from the H5N1 virus would be given Rs.500.
Bird flu was confirmed in West Bengal Jan 15. The affected districts are South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Birbhum, South Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Nadia, Burdwan, Bankura, Malda, Cooch Behar, Purulia and West Midnapore.
The World Health Organisation - has described the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal as 'serious'.
In neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a long border with West Bengal, bird flu has affected 29 of the 64 districts. The outbreak was announced Jan 3.
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