Even as their counterparts in Telangana have a tough time handing the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus in a village in Ranga Reddy district, officials of the Animal Husbandry Department here said they had not found any unusual bird death in poultry farms in Krishna district. Officials confirmed this after conducting random inspections on Thursday. Officials sent back as many as six vehicles from Khammam district from the inter-State border at Garikapadu. The vehicles carried 1,800 birds, 16 metric tonnes of poultry feed and 1.5 lakh eggs.
“The vehicles were sent back to prevent the disease from spreading. As Krishna district borders Telangana State, we are taking necessary measures and have deployed our staffers at all check posts,” an official said.
As many as eight teams from the Animal Husbandry Department visited the poultry farms at Ibrahimpatnam, Jaggayyapet, Nuzvid, Kankipadu and Human Junction to take stock of the situation. “As of now, there is no reason to panic. We have not found any symptoms of flu,” Animal Husbandry Department Deputy Director K.V.L. Narasimha Rao said.
During inspections, the teams focused on bio-safety measures taken by farm owners. “Owners should bury dead birds properly and sprinkle bleaching powder at the spot. They should also spray chemicals prevent the disease from spreading,” he said.
Veterinary staffers have also been deployed at inter-State border check-posts at Garikapadu and Tiruvuru to keep a tab on vehicles that are entering the State from Telangana. “We are planning to distribute pamphlets in villages on precautions to be taken in poultry farms,” Mr. Rao said.
According to officials, there are 150 layer poultry farms with over 90 lakh birds (which lay eggs) and 200 farms with more than seven lakh broilers (which are not layers) in the district.
Animal Husbandry Department Joint Director T. Damodar Naidu said instructions had also been issued to local Assistant Veterinary Surgeons to regularly inspect farms. He added that the department had taken preventive steps as part of its disease surveillance mechanism that would be in place for the next one week.
Officials send back six vehicles carrying 1,800 birds from Khammam district from the inter-State border at Garikapadu
