For hundreds of workers deployed to cull poultry on an unprecedented scale to contain a dangerous outbreak, faith divides the line between wanton killing and call of duty.
“If we have to make sure that the health of humans and other birds is safeguarded, this has to be done in the line of duty. Though we are trained for it, we have never had to kill so many before,” confessed a member of the veterinary staff as he prepared to wring the neck of a hen.
“It is saddening to kill but we have go ahead with faith,” he said, adding that every worker has to kill at least a 100 birds a day to cull the 1.45 lakh birds within one-kilometre of the outbreak in coming days.
Trained personnelOver 100 rapid response teams comprising around 300 workers were deployed on Wednesday.
“These are rapid response teams which will respond immediately after a positive confirmation of an infection is received. Their response determines the success or failure of containment. They have been trained for the job,” said Executive Director of the Animal Husbandry Department Satyanarayana, who supervised the operations.
A job to doAnother staff worker is seen letting drops of water into a hen’s mouth, firmly grasped in his hands. He may have muttered a prayer or two, but his heavily masked visage does not show. He does not reveal his name, preferring religious anonymity.
“We have a job to do in order to safeguard human health. But we are also bound by faith to be humane,” he said.
The irony is striking, but so is the dedication of the staff that has to don the protective gear in sweltering summer heat for at least another day, to fight the notoriously contagious H5N1 virus.
When asked what the teams were being paid for their efforts, a senior animal husbandry official mentioned daily and travel allowances but added they would consider recommending to the government a special compensation, given the perilous nature of work and its unprecedented scale.
