Nagpur: Amid bird flu scare in the state, 40 parrots and five wild pigeons were found dead at Kondhali in Nagpur district on Saturday. This is the highest number of non-poultry bird species found dead at a single place during the current bird flu scare.
This came on the back of 15 egrets and 11 crows found dead in Thane and Beed districts respectively in last two days.
At Kondhali, the dead birds were found on Saturday. Joint monitoring of the forest and animal husbandry departments continues and after that no carcass was found, said sources.
Remains of seven birds, including five parrots and two pigeons, found at Kondhali have been sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Disease (NIHSAD) at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. An official said the reason of death could be confirmed only after NIHSAD releases the reports, which can take up to 72 hours.
No cases of mortality in poultry have been officially reported yet in Vidarbha, said officials. Poultry deaths have been limited to Parbhani and Latur districts of Marathwada region.
Though the animal husbandry department has also come across information of 28 poultry dying in Amravati district. These deaths were not reported, because of which samples could not be collected for further tests. The numbers have not been included in the official tally too. However, swab samples of six birds have been collected in the district, and reports are awaited.
Quick response teams have been formed and inspections will be carried out at poultry farms. The forest department teams are also keeping tabs on wild birds.
So far, over 1,000 poultry have been found dead in Maharashtra. These include 200 in Latur on Friday and 800 deaths in Parbhani on Saturday. The number further increased by 60 odd on Sunday, said an official in the animal husbandry department.
Cases of deaths of non-poultry bird species like crows, egrets, pigeons and parrots have been reported in last week. Animal husbandry department, which is the monitoring agency, began releasing the figures from Friday.
Even as other species have also been found dead, the numbers were rather low. For example on Saturday carcass of three crows, 15 egrets, 2 parrots were found in Mumbai and Thane respectively, apart from 11 crows in Beed. In Vidarbha, one crow and two each were found in Akola, Gondia and Chandrapur districts.
Officials in the animal husbandry department said there is no reason to panic at present. In the organized poultry farms, if at least 100 to 150 birds die at one go, then it can be said to be signs of bird flu, said an officer monitoring the situation.
In Amravati, the birds that were reported dead were from a backyard poultry farm. The birds have died over a period of time, while in bird flu sudden deaths happen. Backyard poultry farm birds are susceptible to many diseases due to unhealthy conditions, an official said.