The alert sounded by the State government, as a preventive measure against a possible spread of H5 N1 virus, followed the death of 23,000 chicken due to bird flu at a farm owned by Ramesh Gupta at a village in Humnabad taluk of Bidar district.
Minister for Animal Husbandry A. Manju, who chaired an emergency meeting with top officials of the department on Sunday, told presspersons that it had been decided to cull poultry birds within a radius of one km of the infected farm and the government would provide compensation to farmers.
Doctors and scientists of the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary, Biologicals, (IAH&VB) Bengaluru, visited the farm in Bidar and collected samples for testing at the National Institute High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal. They tested positive for H5N1, the Minister said.
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A team of experts would oversee the process of culling and the preventive measures being taken to contain its spread. Scientists told Mr. Gupta not to sell or move any of the birds or eggs out of his farm.
A team comprising Joint Director IAH&VB would visit Bidar and take steps to control the disease. Required materials would be kept ready and a rapid response team would be set up for culling birds and sanitising the area.
The Minister said, “There is no need to panic as there are no other farms in the village.”
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Farm owners have been asked to step up vigil and surveillance for potential sources of infection, such as indigenous chicken and poultry farm chicken, ducks and migratory birds. They have also been told to closely monitor the movement of wild and migratory birds that might carry the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus.
The State has around 7,000 farms, which have both egg layers and broiler varieties, with a stock of more than five crore birds and a daily egg production of about 1.2 crore, according to officials. A control room has been opened to provide assistance to poultry farmers and the contact number is 9481888904.