A recent report by the Animal Resource Development Department serves to highlight the disproportionate man-bird ratio.

At the onset, 750 teams were engaged in culling more than 3 lakh birds each day. But on February 6, according to the ARD report, 86 Rapid Response Teams (RRT) were found working. The teams, comprising 4,294 personnel, culled 11,820 birds.

The man-bird discrepancy was starkest in Nadia, where 328 birds were culled on February 6. As per government figures, the number of teams put on culling was nil.

The 23 teams engaged there were for surveillance/mopping and disinfection/ sanitation, not “culling”. The figures showed that only 10 eggs were destroyed by these teams.