Locals first spotted dead chickens being consumed by crows and dogs at Lohia

Nagar in the morning. They reported the matter to the Animal Husbandary department and the Sarnath police.

While Station Officer Amit Srivastava led his team in burying the dead birds, the police detained Sudhir Singh, owner of the local Vikas Poultry Farm for questioning.

At the behest of Deputy Director (Animal Husbandary) Sardar Singh, a team led by Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO-Varanasi) B B Singh rushed to the spot.

They visited the poultry farm and found that samples of 21 live chickens found in the farm matched with the dead ones. “According to the police, the poultry farm owner has denied ownership of the dead chickens,” said B B Singh. While the veterinary team was busy scanning the area, news came of more dead chickens found at Nevadhi Sandaha village under Chaubeypur police station — a short distance from Lohia Nagar.

The team rushed to the village, a kilometre from Sarnath railway station and found at least 50 dead chickens near a culvert. Villagers told the team that the chickens had been lying there since Saturday. “The stench suggests the chickens had died at least 48 hours ago. Hence, there is no point in conducting tests on them. We are now going to bury them,” Singh said.

“The dead chicken from Lohia Nagar will be sent to High Security Disease Control Lab in Bhopal, while serum and blood samples taken from living birds at the poultry farm will be sent to the lab in Pune,” he added.

Singh, however, did not rule out chances of bird flu spreading in the area. “Only after the samples are tested, can anything be said about the possibility of bird flu. But it cannot be ruled out,” he said.

Meanwhile, Additional City Magistrate Devi Das, who accompanied the team, directed the vets to inspect other poultry farms in the 5-km radius around Sarnath. “There are at least 14 poultry farms in the 5-km radius. According to instructions, we will carry out inspections as a precautionary measure,” Singh further said.

On January 26, a consignment of 5,000 chickens had arrived at Varanasi railway station from bird flu infected district of Birbhum in West Bengal. The consignment brought by local poultry owner Dipu Sonkar was

received by his employee Ghulab and immediately sent to poultry farms in Shahjahanpur in UP and Buxar in Bihar. The chickens were later culled.