Bird flu: Culling begins in 1-km radius of ground zero in Ranchi

RANCHI: The rapid response and surveillance teams formed by the Ranchi district administration on Monday reached the seven infection zones located within one km area of the bird flu outbreak at Jail More area to cull the chickens and destroy the eggs.
The Union government-approved labs in Kolkata and Bhopal confirmed the presence of H5N1 virus in a dozen chickens which had died at Union tribal affairs minister Arjun Munda’s house last week, prompting the department of state animal husbandry to sound an alert. Ranchi was the second district after Bokaro to report confirmed bird flu cases in the past few weeks.
The teams, comprising officials from the local police, the Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC), and the department of district animal husbandry, began door-to-door visits. “Culling will be carried out mostly for the chickens being reared by the residents located within one km radius unless there are reports of any fatality outside it,” said district animal husbandary department official Anil Kumar.
He said, “As of now, 96 poultry birds have been culled and 438 eggs destroyed. We have culled most of the chickens reared by people within the one km zone.” Sources in the surveillance teams on Sunday had identified around 310 birds. However, officials on Monday said the survey teams included stocks, which had been seized outside the one km radius.
Meanwhile, the teams also faced problems in catching the birds. Ritesh Panna, who was deployed as a magistrate for Jail More, Nagdatoli, Burdawan compound, Lalpur, Plaza Chowk, and Lohrakocha, area said, “We culled the chickens being reared in seven residential premises and destroyed over 200 eggs,” said Panna, adding that they have maintained records of all the owners, whose stocks were culled, for payment of compensation at later stages. The compensation would be provided from the state disaster management department coffers.