PUNE: The state animal husbandry department on Saturday hinted at staggered culling of around 2.5 lakh poultry birds in 1km radius of the four farms at Navapur in Nandurbar after all the samples of dead birds from there tested positive for the H5N8 strain of avian influenza.
A senior animal husbandry department official told TOI, “We are currently calculating the number of poultry farms in the 1km infected zone where the deaths occurred, and the samples tested positive. Preliminary calculations indicate that there are nearly 11-12 ‘layer poultry farms’ in the 1km area, where all the poultry birds would have to be culled. The number of poultry birds likely to be culled in the infected zone would be nearly 2.5 lakh.”
Eight samples from nearly 5,000 dead poultry birds from the four “layer poultry units” in Navapur were sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for avian influenza test. All the samples tested positive.
Prasanna Pedgaonkar, the general manager at Venkateshwara Hatcheries, said large-scale culling operations and other activities like egg destruction were likely in the infected zone in Navapur, which supplies eggs to cities like Surat and Mumbai. The operations could create a shortage of eggs in these cities in the coming time if the demand remained stable, he said.
Maharashtra Poultry Farmers and Breeders Association president Vasanth Kumar C Shetty said, “There has been a 20-25% drop in sale of chicken and eggs across Maharashtra. But people should be informed that consumption of chicken and eggs should not be reduced or stopped. Properly cooked chicken and boiled eggs are safe for human consumption.”
Maharashtra’s animal husbandry commissioner Sachindra Pratap Singh told TOI that he would be visiting the affected area in Navapur on Sunday to assess the situation. “The Nandurbar district collector would be declaring the infected zone in Navapur and culling of poultry birds in the zone would begin by Sunday morning.”
On if the incidence of avian influenza had been on an increase in Maharashtra, Singh said, “For almost 10 days, there was a lull in bird deaths in the state. Even now, mortalities of crows and other birds are showing a decline. But some hotspots emerge every now and then in the state with sporadic and high number of cases. Navapur is one of them. It is a closely concentrated pocket, housing thousands of ‘poultry layer birds’. If avian influenza is spreading in Navapur, it does not indicate that the number of pockets in Maharashtra under the grip of the disease is also increasing.”
Officials stated that an assessment was under way to find out the reasons as to why such organised poultry farms in Navapur could not prevent the spread of avian influenza despite knowing that the disease had been detected in the state.
63 poultry birds culled in Dhayari
A total of 63 poultry birds were culled on Saturday in Dhayari — a part of which has been identified as an avian influenza-infected zone in the city.
Shitalkumar Mukane, district deputy commissioner, animal husbandry, Pune, said, “We have completed 99% of containment and surveillance measures in Dhayari. The protocols are expected to continue for 90 days. Another wild duck sample near a river at Ghotawade Phata in Mulshi has tested positive for avian influenza.”