Rapid response teams of the Animal Husbandry Department culled 20,268 ducks within a one-km radius of two bird flu hotspots in Pallipad and Ambalapuzha North grama panchayats on Tuesday.
Officials said that bird culling operations had been completed and mopping up would be conducted on Wednesday. While 11,143 birds were culled in and around the hotspot in Pallipad another 9,125 ducks were culled in Ambalapuzha North. Besides, 13,500 eggs and 9,650 kg of feed were also destroyed.
The operation was launched a day after the samples of dead ducks belonging to two farmers, which were sent to the National Institute of High-Security Animal Disease (NIHSAD), Bhopal, for analyses, tested positive for avian influenza.
Avian flu (H5N1) has so far been confirmed in seven grama panchayats in Alappuzha. The outbreak was first detected in ducks at Kunnumma South (ward 10) in Thakazhy grama panchayat on December 8. Later the outbreak was reported from Nedumudi and Karuvatta on December 14. It was followed by cases in Purakkad and Cheruthana. Last week, more than 16,000 ducks within a one-km radius of a hotspot in Ambalapuzha North grama panchayat were culled.
Officials said that more than one lakh birds, mostly ducks, had died/culled in the district due to the outbreak.
It is the fourth outbreak of bird flu to strike the district in the last seven years. Earlier this year, avian flu caused by the H5N8 strain of the Influenza A virus was detected from five places at Nedumudi, Thakazhy, Pallippad, Karuvatta, and Kainakary.
