More poultry birds culled in Odisha

Thousands of more poultry birds were Wednesday culled in Odisha after bird flu hit a new area, an official said.

Officials and veterinarians launched the culling operation in and around three km of Bahanada village in the tribal-populated Mayurbhanj district after tests confirmed that two chickens were infected with the deadly H5N1 virus.

Culling of about 5,000 birds in about 30 villages is being carried out by about 10 teams, state animal resources development department director Benudhar Dash told IANS.

Authorities last week culled over 31,000 poultry birds in and around Keranga village of Khurda district, more than 300 km from the present culling site.

Dash said the government sent samples of different fowls to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal, after hundreds of crows died in some parts of Odisha earlier this month.

The test confirmed that three samples of poultry and two samples of crow were infected with the H5N1 virus, he said.

But he said there was no need to panic as the influenza has not affected any humans.