ALAPPUZHA : The Rapid Response Team on Saturday culled 6,987 ducks at the farm of Puthenpurayil Chacko at Pandi in Cheruthana panchayat after the ducks tested positive for H5N1 disease.Earlier, the samples collected from Chacko’s farm were sent to the Avian Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory, Thiruvalla, for preliminary examination, which confirmed the presence of the H5N1.
However, to make sure that it is the bird flu virus, the laboratory authorities sent the samples to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal. The disease was identified after the animal husbandry department culled around 20,000 ducks at paddy polders in Haripad municipality and Pallippad panchayat last week.