KENDRAPARA: Around 200 chickens of a few poultry farms at Narsinghpur village in Derabish block have died in the last two days fuelling fears of bird flu.
“Several chickens died unnaturally on Saturday and Sunday in some poultry farms. While the carcasses were dumped in a canal nearby, we rushed to the spot and buried them,” said additional district veterinary officer (disease control), Kendrapada Dr Mrutyunjay Mohanty.
The 2 km radius of the area where the chicken died is under surveillance. The officials have also taken precautionary steps to detect any sick chickens. People of the affected areas have been instructed not to handle the dead chickens without gloves. They were also instructed to bury the dead chickens by digging deep holes.
Mohanty said there is no reason to panic as the Veterinary department has not detected any H5N1-affected chicken in the area. “To protect the birds from Ranikhet disease and bird flu, we have vaccinated a large number of chickens recently. We have also requested farmers rearing poultry birds to utilise the opportunity and approach the nearest veterinary dispensaries to get the birds vaccinated to prevent the viral disease,” he said.
The department has collected samples of blood, stool, tracheal and cloacal of some birds and dead chickens at Narasinghpur and sent them to Animal Disease Research Institute (ADRI), Cuttack for testing. Several poultry farm owners have been trained to detect any sick birds in their farms. “We have also advised poultry farmers to take bio-security measures like using aerial disinfectant sprays and administering mandatory vaccines to the birds periodically,” added Dr Mohanty.
He informed nine rapid response teams (RRT) have been formed in all blocks of the district. At least 29 veterinary assistant surgeons, livestock inspectors, ZP members and social workers are members of each RRT.