Bird flu strikes Bengal again, culling begins
Nadia/KOLKATA: Bird flu has struck Bengal yet again and culling of poultry birds started across 13 villages of Nadia's Tehatta I block on Tuesday.
State animal resources development minister Nure Alam Chowdhury went on a recce of the affected Tehatta I
block on Tuesday. "Around 51,000 hens and ducks will be culled within a 3-km radius of the affected zone," said A K Agarwal, secretary of the ARD department, at Writers' Buildings on Tuesday. Besides culling, surveillance will continue within a 10-km radius of the affected area.
On September 14, unnatural deaths of 849 fowls on a single day were reported to the local animal resources development wing. The next day, samples were sent for test to the Belgachhia laboratory, where it was confirmed to be bird flu. To re-confirm the tests, samples were sent again to Bhopal's High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL)where it tested positive for the H5 strain of avian influenza. On Monday, boththe Centre and the state issued notifications, declaredring the epidemic as bird flu and culling was ordered . Culling started across the five affected panchayat areas only after 4 pm on Tuesday. According to The ARD secretary informed that the 3-km radius within which culling has to be done includes a portion of Bangladesh. So, The Centre was requested to talk it out with Bangladesh. take up the issue with the neighbouring country so that a similar exercise is conducted over this area as well.
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