Continuing its operations for the third day, the TS Animal Husbandry Department culled 73,000 birds and destroyed 74,000 eggs on Thursday. With that, the total number of dead birds comes to 1, 24,000. Officials said the work would continue throughout Thursday night, and that the target of culling 1.54 lakh birds would be completed by Friday morning.
“We have deployed 113 teams, each comprising a doctor and four assistants who will work on shifts throughout the night to finish the work,” says Shakeel, Assistant Director, Animal Husbandry Department. A total of 82,000 eggs have been destroyed at poultry farms in Thoroor village of Hayathnagar mandal in Ranga Reddy district.
The dead birds were being buried in the farms itself. “Once the bird is dead, its body is buried adding cement to the sand. A board stating ‘digging should not be carried out’ is being put up in that spot,” said Dr. Shakeel. Though culling is coming to an end in the four farms, the origin of the Avian flu, however, is yet to be ascertained.
Varaprasad Reddy, Regional Director, Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts, said that investigation is still under way to find out the cause. “People from the Veterinary Biological Research Institute in Hyderabad have also collected samples,” Dr. Varaprasad mentioned. Another official also informed that three members from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases visited the farms for inspection.
Balakrishna Reddy, owner of Srinivas Reddy Farm where the flu was detected, said that a total of 55,000 birds were culled and 1.5 lakh eggs were destroyed in his farm alone. “The birds culled were worth Rs. 2.5 crore, and the feed worth Rs. 40 to 45 lakh has also been disposed of,” he said. Though infected birds were found at his farm, a senior official informed that no sick birds were found in the other three farms.
“Birds killed in the other farms were healthy, but as per the Centre’s directions, all birds in farms located within a kilometre radius should also be culled,” he said.
