Culling of poultry underway in West Bengal
Font size:
editor
Almost a week after the outbreak of bird flu, the authorities have started culling poultry in West Bengal's Birbhum district.
Almost a week after the outbreak of bird flu, the authorities have started culling poultry in West Bengal's Birbhum district.
All chickens in the area are being killed and buried, and it's being done in the most primitive manner: by breaking their necks.
More than 35,000 birds have died of the deadly H5N1 strain in the past 12 days.
A day after lab tests confirmed the outbreak, health officials have begun culling operations in two blocks in Rampurhat
The Health Ministry says it will take about a week to clear the area of bird flu. A team of senior health ministry officials is being sent to Kolkata on Wednesday evening.
The ministry officials however, admitted that there was a delay in sending the required protective gear to be worn by cullers and health officials in the area.
They confirmed that it had now been dispatched to West Bengal.
Door to door health surveillance within a radius of 10 km is also expected to begin on Wednesday. Also 50,000 Tamiflu tablets and protective gear have been sent to the affected districts.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has affirmed that so far there are no reports of humans being infected with bird flu.
Life devastates
The only source of income for the 50-year-old Murshida Bibi got devastated a month ago.
She had 33 chickens, but now, all that remains is an empty chicken pen. Robbed of her only source of income, Murshida Bibi doesn't know what to do next. Her poultry were the first to be hit by bird flu.
And the deadly strain of the virus couldn't have struck at a worse time, the 18th of December, a couple of days before Bakrid - a time when the demand for chicken peaks in the Muslim dominated village.
''All my money is gone, bird flu has hit during the peak season,'' said Murshida Bibi. But the state government woke up to problem quite late, only four days ago.
Samples were sent to a Bhopal laboratory, and the results that came on Tuesday, only confirmed the worst fears.
''Bird flu report positive for five blocks in Birbhum district and the government poultry farm at Balurghat in south Dinajpur district. Culling will begin from Wednesday morning, 3.5 lakh chicken will have to be culled,'' said Anisur Rehman, Minister for Animal Resources, West Bengal.
But villagers in the affected areas are still not aware of what confronts them.
The government says it is prepared, but on the ground no effort has been made to spread awareness. The villagers don't know what precautions to take. Some now fear they may get infected.
''The state government hasn't done anything about the problem. We have come to know that some people in the neighbouring area have fallen ill after consuming chicken,'' said Ghulam Mustafa, a villager.
All chickens in the area are being killed and buried, and it's being done in the most primitive manner: by breaking their necks.
More than 35,000 birds have died of the deadly H5N1 strain in the past 12 days.
A day after lab tests confirmed the outbreak, health officials have begun culling operations in two blocks in Rampurhat
The Health Ministry says it will take about a week to clear the area of bird flu. A team of senior health ministry officials is being sent to Kolkata on Wednesday evening.
The ministry officials however, admitted that there was a delay in sending the required protective gear to be worn by cullers and health officials in the area.
They confirmed that it had now been dispatched to West Bengal.
Door to door health surveillance within a radius of 10 km is also expected to begin on Wednesday. Also 50,000 Tamiflu tablets and protective gear have been sent to the affected districts.
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has affirmed that so far there are no reports of humans being infected with bird flu.
Life devastates
The only source of income for the 50-year-old Murshida Bibi got devastated a month ago.
She had 33 chickens, but now, all that remains is an empty chicken pen. Robbed of her only source of income, Murshida Bibi doesn't know what to do next. Her poultry were the first to be hit by bird flu.
And the deadly strain of the virus couldn't have struck at a worse time, the 18th of December, a couple of days before Bakrid - a time when the demand for chicken peaks in the Muslim dominated village.
''All my money is gone, bird flu has hit during the peak season,'' said Murshida Bibi. But the state government woke up to problem quite late, only four days ago.
Samples were sent to a Bhopal laboratory, and the results that came on Tuesday, only confirmed the worst fears.
''Bird flu report positive for five blocks in Birbhum district and the government poultry farm at Balurghat in south Dinajpur district. Culling will begin from Wednesday morning, 3.5 lakh chicken will have to be culled,'' said Anisur Rehman, Minister for Animal Resources, West Bengal.
But villagers in the affected areas are still not aware of what confronts them.
The government says it is prepared, but on the ground no effort has been made to spread awareness. The villagers don't know what precautions to take. Some now fear they may get infected.
''The state government hasn't done anything about the problem. We have come to know that some people in the neighbouring area have fallen ill after consuming chicken,'' said Ghulam Mustafa, a villager.
del.icio.us
Digg
Technorati
Email to a friend
Print version
Plain text
Comments (0 posted):
Post your comment