Bird flu: over 28,500 birds culled in Alappuzha in two days

In view of the bird flu (H5N1) outbreak in Alappuzha district, Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) of the Animal Husbandry Department (AHD) carried out bird culling operations in four more grama panchayats in Alappuzha on Saturday.

On the day, RRTs culled 24,309 birds in the grama panchayats of Cheruthana (4,300), Purakkad (5,813), Punnapra South (8,171) and Ambalappuzha South (6,025). On Friday (December 26), 4,240 birds were culled in Nedumudi, Karuvatta, Karthikappally, Thakazhi, and Kumarapuram. Besides the culling of birds, 584 eggs and 8,380 kg of feed were destroyed.

“Culling and disposal of carcasses as per the standard operating procedure have been completed. As many as 28,549 birds were culled over two days as part of containment measures. No fresh cases of avian flu have been reported from anywhere in the district,” said Alappuzha District AHD officer Arunodaya P.V.

Bird flu cases were reported from one ward each in the panchayats of Nedumudi, Cheruthana, Karuvatta, Karthikappally, Ambalappuzha South, Punnapra South, Thakazhi and Purakkad. Though not an epicentre, Kumarapuram panchayat was declared an infected zone as it falls within a one-km radius of Karthikappally.

Earlier, following the mass death of ducks and chickens, the AHD sent samples of dead birds to the Avian Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Thiruvalla and later to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, for analysis, which tested positive for avian influenza. Both the AHD and the Health department have tightened surveillance in the region.