Culling of birds to begin today

Restrictions will continue in Parappanangadi, Tirurangadi municipal limits

The Avian Breeders Club has appealed to Malappuram District Collector Jafer Malik against the killing of exotic birds, reared inside houses with extreme care, as part of culling in the wake of bird flu at Palathingal, near Parappanangadi. Club member T. Mohammedali, who holds a parrot in the photo, says it is painful to part with some of the exotic pet birds bought for a huge cost and kept in secure conditions.

The restrictions in the Parappanangadi and Tirurangadi municipal limits following the outbreak of bird flu will continue for three months even after the culling of birds takes place within one-kilometre area of Palathingal on Saturday and Sunday.

The killing of birds being bred in the region, including chicken and ducks, will start on Saturday morning. The licences of all poultry shops in the Tirurangadi and Parappanangadi municipal limits have been suspended as a measure to counter bird flu.

Top officials of the Animal Husbandry Department met the civic heads of Parappanangadi and Tirurangadi on Friday and got the one-kilometre area earmarked for culling.

Rapid response teams

The culling will be done by 10 rapid response teams (RRTs) comprising 20 veterinary surgeons, 119 livestock inspectors, and 30 attendants. The culling of 4,000 birds will take place before Monday. They will be buried in the same locality as part of checking the spread of the disease.

The district administration on Friday assured the people that compensation would be given for the culled birds. But the rate would be decided by the government.

Cleaning drive

A special cleaning drive would be taken up for three days after the culling. Bird cages, feeding plates, and eggs would also be destroyed along with the culling.

A secondary examination would be conducted on the fifth day after culling in the one-kilometre region. If any bird was found in that inspection, it would be confiscated and killed.

S. Nandakumar, disease investigation officer from the State Institute for Animal Diseases, Palode, said no compensation would be given to the birds culled in the secondary stage.

The government would submit a sanitation certificate to the Centre after the culling process. Random samples would be collected from within 10-km radius every fortnight and sent for examination to national laboratories at Bhopal or Bengaluru. This would continue for three months. The Centre would give a certificate only if the tests were negative.

Dr. Nandakumar said the bird flu management would be over only when the Centre issued a certificate.