With the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) recurring in the zoo here, 19 wild boars have been culled and closed for visitors indefinitely for the second time in a month.
The deadly disease afflicting cloven-hoofed animals had claimed about 25 animals including black bucks, Mithun bulls and Nilgai since the outbreak last month.
Zoo authorities were given the permission to cull wild boars on Saturday after a high-power technical committee of experts reviewed the situation.
A team of experts from the Bangalore-based Regional Disease Dignostic Laboratory visited the zoo last month to analyse the problem. The zoo was closed for about 20 days from July 8.
The authorities are still finding it difficult to contain the problem as the virus causing the deadly affliction is carried by winds. ‘FMD has been reported in many parts of the state killing live stock. Its recurrence is due to the direction of wind that carries the virus,’ C S Jayakumar, chief vet at the zoo said.
