This story is from January 12, 2021

State to cull 80k birds from today in Parbhani; all 36 dists on alert

State to cull 80k birds from today in Parbhani; all 36 dists on alert
Mumbai: With more than 1,200 avian flu deaths confirmed in Maharashtra, the government has ordered culling to begin on Tuesday in the most infected clusters starting with a village in Parbhani district in Marathwada where close to 80,000 birds will be exterminated across nearly 20 poultry farms.
According to an official in the animal husbandry department, 411 more birds were found dead on Monday.
Of these, 398 were poultry birds which were found dead in Parbhani (7), Latur (60), Nagpur (265), Nanded (12), Ahmednagar (50) and Satara (1), the official said. The samples are being sent to National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal and Disease Investigation Section (DIS) in Pune for testing. It can take 48 to 72 hours to get the results of the investigation, the official said.
Bird flu deaths in Maharashtra have been confirmed across Mumbai, Thane, Konkan, Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, prompting the state to put all 36 districts on alert.
The animal husbandry department has declared the Latur poultry bird deaths as confirmed cases of avian flu and is likely to implement all protocols, including humane culling of poultry birds, in the infected zones at two places in the district from Tuesday, animal husbandry commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh told TOI on Monday.
In Mumbai Metropolitan Region and adjoining areas, crow carcasses from Vartak Nagar in Thane were sent for tests while fresh samples from Dapoli in Ratnagiri were found to contain the virus strain H5N1.
As of now, the affected districts are Mumbai, Thane, Ratnagiri, Parbhani, Beed, Latur, Akola, Chandrapur, Amravati and Gondia, an official said.
Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray while reviewing the outbreak on Monday, said there was no need to panic as the infection did not transmit to humans.

Apart from mass culling of 80,000 chickens in Parbhani, the administration has asked animal husbandry staff to mount a vigil at poultry farms. Foresters have been told to monitor natural habitats for bodies of migratory birds including herons and native varieties such as crows and parakeets. In urban centres, ward-levels checks have been advised on shops stocking poultry products.
CM Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with district collectors and asked the animal husbandry wing to start the process of setting up an upgraded laboratory to carry out bird flu tests in the state. Currently, all samples are being sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal.
Sunil Kedar, minister for animal husbandry, said there was no ban on consumption of eggs or chicken. He said they could be consumed if precautions were taken like cooking or boiling it at 70-80 degrees Celsius.
Dhananjay Parkale, state additional commissioner of animal husbandry, told TOI, “We have 4,847 veterinary dispensaries across the state. There are seven to eight villages under each such veterinary dispensary on an average. These dispensaries have been instructed that in case they witness bird mortalities in their jurisdictions, they should send samples of the dead birds to Pune for tests.”
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