A day after the Mysuru zoo was closed to tourists owing to a bird flu outbreak, a spot-billed pelican was found dead on Thursday, taking the total count of bird deaths to seven. The bird was from the same pond where six migratory birds — two spot-billed pelicans and four greylag geese – had died due to avian influenza H5N8 in the last week of December. The deaths were confirmed by the National Institute of High Security and Animal Diseases in Bhopal.
“A spot-billed pelican was found dead in pond number 3 at noon on Thursday. The carcass was bundled into an ice box following all mandatory protocols and sent to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals (IAH and VB) in Bengaluru for investigation,” said Zoo Executive Director Kamala K.
She told The Hindu that the cause of death could be ascertained only after a lab test, like in the previous cases.
“We suspect that today’s bird death could be due to the same reason since the other birds found dead in the pond were infected with H5N8,” she said.
Ms. Kamala, however, said the birds in the zoo collections are healthy and there is no need to worry since all necessary precautions have been put in place since the outbreak. Meanwhile, Ms. Kamala met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was on a visit to the city, on Wednesday evening, and briefed him about the measures taken by the management following the outbreak. Sources told The Hindu that the Chief Minister has convened a meeting in Bengaluru on Friday to take stock of the situation at the zoo and the precautionary measures to be taken to check its spread.
