Bird flu back again in WB, thousands of poultry to be culled

Samples collected from Naya Mukundapur and Bodra villages of the district have primarily tested H5N1 positive at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal, state Animal Resources Department minister Anisur Rehman said.

Murshidabad District Magistrate Subir Bhadra said that 60 teams began culling operations at Raghunathganj 11 and Muridabad-Jiyaganj blocks from where fresh chicken deaths were reported.

"Fifty thousand chicken will be killed in the three-day culling exercise", he said.

The ARD minister said the sale and consumption of poultry has been banned in the notified area of the district till further orders.

Admitting that the culling operations were not cent per cent successful in the affected districts, Rehman had said it was not possible for the government to make the system totally foolproof.

"Due to lack of awareness, many people had hidden their poultry. Some birds may have escaped culling", he said.

The ARD, he said, in coordination with the panchayats, was keeping vigil on the overall situation.

Culling operations had been ordered from mid-January after 16 of the state's 19 districts were found to have been affected by deadly avian influenza and a ban had been imposed on the sale and consumption of chicken and poultry products for three months.