India (incl. West Bengal) - Poultry (December 2008 -)

[Treyfish]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

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मालदा में बर्डफ्लू की आशंका

In fear Berdfloo of Malda

Dec 15, 12:49 am

Dec 15, 12:49 am

मालदा/कूचबिहार : मालदा जिले की नरहंट्ट ग्राम पंचायत में बर्डफ्लू फैलने की आशंका है।

Malda / Akwhbiahar: gram panchayat in Malda district of Narahntt Berdfloo fears of the spread.

वहां बीते दो-तीन दिनों में लगभग पांच सौ मुर्गियों की मौत हो गयी है।

There the past two - three days, about five hundred chickens have been killed.

इससे इलाके में दहशत है।

This area is in shock.

मरीं मुर्गियों के रक्त के नमूने जांच के लिए भोपाल भेजे गये हैं।

Maren samples of chicken blood have been sent to Bhopal for investigation.

जिला प्राणी संपदा अधिकारी निखिल चंद्र शित ने रविवार को प्रभावित इलाके का जायजा लिया।

District officials Nikhil Chandra Shith the creature estate on Sunday took stock of the affected areas.

उन्होंने बताया कि रक्त के नमूने संग्रह कर जांच के लिए भोपाल भेजे गये हैं।

He informed that the collection of blood samples sent to Bhopal for investigation are.

रिपोर्ट आने के बाद ही कुछ कहा जा सकता है।

The report comes after some can be said.

संभव है कि यह रानी खेत नामक बीमारी हो, मगर बर्डफ्लू की आशंका से इनकार नहीं किया जा सकता।

It is possible that the disease, called the farm queen, but fears of Berdfloo can not be denied.

स्थानीय लोगों ने बताया कि मुर्गियों का मल सफेद है।

Local people said that the chickens of the stool is white.

उनकी नाक से पानी गिर रहा है।

Water is falling from his nose.

उधर, जिलाधिकारी श्रीधर कुमार घोष ने बताया कि मुर्गियों की मौत को लेकर शीघ्र ही बैठक बुलायी जायेगी।

The district magistrate Sridhar Kumar Ghosh said that the death of chickens to Bulayie will be meeting soon.

हालांकि अभी तक इसकी तारीख तय नहीं हुई है।

Although it still has not fixed the date.

उन्होंने लोगों से दहशत में नहीं रहने की अपील की है।

They do not live in fear of the people has appealed.

उधर, असम में फैले बर्डफ्लू को लेकर कूचबिहार जिले के सीमावर्ती इलाके में दूसरे दिन भी एहतियात के तौर पर असम से आ रहे सभी वाहनों में प्रतिरोधक स्प्रे किया जा रहा है।

However, in Assam Berdfloo spread over the border in the area of the district Akwhbiahar second day as a circumspection all vehicles coming from Assam are being sprayed in the buffer.

तारागंज में राष्ट्रीय राजमार्ग के वाश कैंप में दूसरे दिन भी पुलिस की तैनाती नहीं थी।

Wash the National Highway Taragnz second day in camp was not even the deployment of police. http://74.125.93.104/translate_c?hl=...i-urLJJ3jwcLVw

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

<TABLE style="PADDING-LEFT: 10px" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%">Bird flu confirmed in Malda</ARTTITLE>
16 Dec 2008, 0526 hrs IST, TNN
</TD></TR><TR><TD>

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=left><!-- google_ad_section_start -->MALDA: It's official. Bird flu has raised its ugly head in the state once again, barely 10 days to go for Christmas. With markets already affected badly by the global recession, this may spell doom for the poultry industry and put a dampener on the festivities.

The district administration's worst fears came true with the laboratory report coming in from Bhopal on Monday evening. "We got the confirmation from the state animal resources department (ARD) after they received the report from Bhopal," said a source in the district administration. Samples of dead chickens had been sent to Bhopal two days ago after reports of thousands of bird deaths started coming in from the villages under Englishbazaar block. Culling will begin on Wednesday.

Reports of bird deaths are pouring in at an alarming rate, with villagers claiming that 3,500 chickens have died in Narhatta gram panchayat area alone. Bishon Choudhury, the Narhatta pradhan, said: "More than 1,000 chickens have died in the last 24 hours in Budhia and reports are coming in from other villages as well."

Ekram Hossain, the sabhapati of Englishbazaar panchayat samiti, also confirmed that Budhia was the worst affected village. "I was there for only 20 minutes today. Two chickens died right in front of me," he claimed. Choudhury said Satgharia, Sabjipara, Madhyapara and Anandipur villages have also seen rapid bird deaths.

The ARD, though, still insisted that "only 11 chickens have died in Englishbazaar". The district administration held a meeting on Monday with all departments concerned. "About 16,000 birds in 72 villages of Englishbazaar would be culled within a three-kilometre radius of the affected Narhatta panchayat zone," said an official.

Animal resources minister Anisur Rahaman will be in Malda on Wednesday for the election campaign for Sujapur. He will also hold a meeting with the district administration to take stock of the bird flu situation.

"We held a meeting with police, the health department, ARD and PWD to ensure that immediate steps are taken," said DM Sridhar Ghosh.

Sale and consumption of chicken will be restricted in Narhatta. SDO Prakash Pal said: "We have sent the Englishbazaar BDO to Narhatta to impose the restriction. Panchayat representatives have been asked to arrange a campaign. We have also asked the villagers to bury the dead birds." A police patrol is also on to check the removal of chickens to other parts of the district.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Bird_flu_confirmed_in_Malda/articleshow/3843096.cms

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[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Third Indian state culls poultry over bird flu
16 Dec 2008 11:27:05 GMT
<!-- 16 Dec 2008 11:27:05 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove -->Source: Reuters

<!-- AN5.0 article title end --><SCRIPT language=JavaScript src="/bin/js/article.js"></SCRIPT></SPAN><INPUT id=CurrentSize type=hidden value=13 name=CurrentSize> <!-- Third Indian state culls poultry over bird flu --><!-- Reuters -->(Recasts with start of culling)
By Sujoy Dhar
KOLKATA, India, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Hundreds of veterinary workers in eastern India began killing up to 16,500 chickens and ducks on Tuesday as authorities tried to contain the latest outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus.
Officials in West Bengal state confirmed the outbreak late on Monday after tests on dead birds. Hundreds of thousands of poultry are already being culled in northeastern Assam state and neighbouring Meghalaya.
Health workers and bird flu experts are monitoring about 100 villagers in and around Guwahati city in Assam who had shown signs of the virus. Officials said most them had kept poultry in their yards.
There have been no confirmed human cases of H5N1 in India since the first outbreak was reported in the western state of Maharashtra in 2006.
Experts fear the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.
Veterinary workers wearing protective suits began killing and burying chickens and ducks in yards and farms across West Bengal's Malda district, 350 km (220 miles) north of Kolkata, and hoped to be finished by Thursday, state officials said.
"There could be some resistance from the villagers, but we have started an awareness campaign to persuade villagers to hand over poultry," said N.K. ****, a senior animal resources development official.
Authorities also imposed a ban on transporting poultry from the affected zones in West Bengal.
"There has been no report of any fresh outbreak from any other adjoining area so far," said Malda official Sridhar Ghoshhe. At least 3,500 fowl have died in the past week, Malda officials said.
In the neighbouring state of Orissa, authorities said they had banned all poultry products from other states.
Hundreds of veterinary officials and policemen were asked to check vehicles coming in from bordering states, including West Bengal, said senior Orissa government official Bishnupada Sethi.
In Guwahati, health workers, bird flu experts and equipment were rushed in when about 100 people began suffering fever and respiratory infections, symptoms of the H5N1 bird flu virus in humans, after the outbreak was detected there last month.
Monday's confirmation marked the third outbreak of the disease this year in West Bengal, where 4 million birds were culled in January in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described as India's worst-ever bird flu outbreak.
According to the WHO, H5N1 flu has infected 390 people in 15 countries and killed 246 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003. (Additional reporting by Biswajyoti Das in GUWAHATI and Jatindra Dash in BHUBANESWAR; Writing by Bappa Majumdar; Editing by Paul Tait and Dean Yates)

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP391761.htm

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Centre to set up six more bird flu testing labs

New Delhi (PTI): As part of measures to check bird flu, the Centre will set up six more laboratories in different parts of the country to detect the avian influenza virus, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said on Tuesday.
While bird flu outbreak was often being reported from various parts of the country, there is only one laboratory located at Bhopal for detecting the virus in samples.
By March 2009, two testing facilities will be set up in Kolkata and Jalandhar, Pawar said in the Rajya Sabha, replying to a debate on a Bill that seeks to prevent communicable diseases in animals and birds.
The Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Bill passed by the House, is aimed at providing a uniform legislation throughout the country to monitor and control infectious animal diseases.
The minister did not reveal the location details for the other four laboratories that the Centre would set up.
Pawar also said an expert group will study the viability of setting up a body on the lines of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) for the animal husbandry sector. He was responding to a demand from MPs to set up such a body.
Framing legislation for control of major livestock diseases is also an international obligation for India to enable the country to take benefits under the International Animal Health Code, a crucial enabler for livestock trade.
Contagious diseases like foot and mouth disease, black quarter and anthrax, among others, continue to be a serious threat to Indian livestock with a production value estimated at Rs 2.11 lakh crore.
Earlier, during the discussion on the Bill, Narayan Singh Manaklao (BJP) sought to know how compulsory vaccination of animals is possible if "sufficient number of vaccines are not available."
Referring to stray cows and street dogs, Manaklao said in those cases where there are no owners, the government and the local authorities will have to vaccinate the animals and take care of them.
J.D. Seelam (Congress) supported the Bill saying apart from the control and prevention of contagious diseases among animals, some international obligations too have to be met.
"We earned Rs 3,000 crore last year in meat export. It is our duty to take care of the animals," he said adding, the country will have to adhere to the International Animal Health Code.
Moinul Hassan (CPI-M) said livestock is an asset of the country and it is a national duty to protect them. He referred to bird flu in West Bengal and sought a compensation mechanism and more testing centres apart from the one at Bhopal.
The MP also asked for steps to check the illegal export of livestock to Bangladesh from West Bengal and Tripura.
Ram Gopal Yadav (SP) said around 2.5 crore population of the country was dependent on livestock for livelihood and demanded more allocation for animal husbandry in plan outlay. Yadav said that the combined revenue receipt of milk and meat at Rs 1.73 lakh crore was only less than that of wheat and paddy combined and the areas needed more attention.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus...0812161811.htm<!-- story ends -->

[Shiloh]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Source: http://howrah.org/india_news/37116.html

Alert sounded in West Bengal against bird flu
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NEWSX
16 December, 2008 10:38:29

An alert has been sounded in entire West Bengal following reappearance of bird flu even as culling began in Malda district this evening after initial resistance from the people.

Animal Resources Development minister Anisur Rehman told PTI at Domkal in Murshidabad district that an alert has been sounded in the entire state, though bird flu was only reported from Malda, where it had reappeared after 11 months.

Culling initially could be carried out only at Narhatta village of the 13 affected mouzas in Malda district as people demanded compensation before the birds were killed, police said.

Eighteen teams comprising eight men were formed for the culling operation with six mobile police teams assigned to give them protection, district magistrate Sreedhar Ghosh said.

The district magistrate and the additional district magistrate PC Shith rushed to Buddhia and Mahespur areas after being informed about the resistance and assured the people that compensation would be paid.

At Buddhia, Englishbazar panchayat sammitee sabhapati, who was accompanying a culling team was gheraoed by people demanding compensation.

He was freed after the DM and ADM intervened. Culling figures were not available as it began in the evening and would continue till night.

A report from South Dinapur quoting district magistrate Ashok Bandhopadhay said that the tyres of trucks arriving from Bangladesh at Hili were being sprayed with disinfectants and import of chicken had been stopped.

Meanwhile, the ARD minister said poultry owners who had not received compensation during the earlier outbreak of the avian influenza would get Rs 1500 each.

A formal notification by the central government of the outbreak of the avian influenza in the district reached Malda during the day.

A large number of chickens had died in several villages under Englishbazar block, from where ARD department personnel had collected samples and sent to the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory at Bhopal, where they tested positive for H5N1.

Birdflu broke out in the state for the first time on January 15 this year at Margram in Birbhum district and spread to 15 out of the 19 districts in the state.

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Culling begins in Malda


Special Correspondent







KOLKATA: Culling operations began on Tuesday in parts of West Bengal?s Malda district, a day after it was confirmed that avian flu was the cause of deaths of poultry birds there.
?Authorities in all districts have been instructed to take precautionary measures,? Animal Resources Development Minister Anisur Rahaman told The Hindu over telephone from Domkal in Murshidabad district.
?The possibilities of the disease reappearing in other districts too are always there given the outbreak in several parts of the State earlier this year and the more recent bird flu attacks in Bangladesh and Assam.?
18 teams at work


In Malda, the culling operations in the English Bazar block will be spread over 13 ?mouzas? which fall within a three-km radius of the villages where poultry birds died, said District Magistrate Sridhar Ghosh. Eighteen teams comprising eight members each had fanned out in areas where the operations were on. Policemen were accompanying the teams. More than 16,000 poultry birds were to be culled, Mr Ghosh said.
Curbs on sale


Restrictions on sale and movement of poultry products in the region have been in force since Monday even before the district authorities got word from the Ministry confirming that the death of poultry birds there was caused by the H5N1 virus.
Nearly 3,500 poultry birds have died over the past week in the villages under the Norhatta gram panchayat, according to pradhan Dishon Choudhury.
A ban is already in force on the movement of poultry birds and products into the State from Assam, where an outbreak has been reported.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/17/stories/2008121756821200.htm

[Shiloh]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryP...+panic+spreads

Bengal delays action, panic spreads
Kolkata, December 17, 2008
First Published: 00:48 IST(17/12/2008)
Last Updated: 01:28 IST(17/12/2008)


As the West Bengal government machinery took more than 24 hours to start culling operations in just one gram panchayat area of Malda district, 340 km north of Kolkata, the bird flu panic spread in the state capital on Tuesday.

Malda district magistrate Sridhar Ghosh admitted there was a lack of coordination between various departments of the district administration. Bird flu was detected in Malda, famed for its mangoes, on Monday. But the state government's delayed response exposed how unprepared it was less than a year after Bengal was hit by the disease.

Satgheria village in Malda district, the epicentre of bird flu this time, had been waiting for culling teams to turn up since Tuesday morning. But the teams got into the act only by Tuesday evening.

Chickens in this village began to die early last week. Blood samples of chickens suspected to have bird flu, were sent to a central lab in Bhopal and results confirming the outbreak of the disease reached the government on Monday.

Malda district magistrate Sridhar Ghosh admitted there was a lack of coordination between various departments of the district administration. ?The compensation money for the livestock to be culled did not reach the spot on time. Gathering entire teams for the culling operation was also tough,? Ghosh said.

In Kolkata, prices of chicken have dropped by Rs 10-15 per kg. Wholesalers and retailers are apprehensive about the coming marriage and picnic season. ?I am expecting orders during the festive season. I do not know what will happen if the disease spreads like it did in January this year,? said Sujon Pahari, a retail chicken dealer in the city.

Manoranjan Naskar, a member of the West Bengal Poultry Association said, ?Things would change drastically if the disease spreads to other districts.?

The Kolkata Corporation is keeping a close watch on the situation in the state capital. ?The city is safe so far. We are however keeping a close watch on the markets and the entry and exit points of the city,? said mayor Bikas Bhattacharya.

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

http://business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=343480

Chicken culling starts in Malda
BS Reporter / Kolkata December 17, 2008, 0:48 IST


Following the death of large number of chickens in Malda district of West Bengal, the state government has confirmed the presence of bird flu in the state.

Anisur Rehman, minister for animal resources development (ARD) said, "The testing laboratory in Bhopal has confirmed the presence of bird flu in Malda, following which the Centre has also notified two areas in Malda as infected by bird flu." As a precautionary measure the state government has restricted the movement of poultry outside Malda. Culling operations are likely to begin tomorrow, according to the minister.
The Centre has also increased the amount of compensation to be given to the poultry owners during the culling operations. Earlier, the highest rate offered for culling a bird was Rs 40. "The compensation has been substantially increased. The Centre will pay 50 per cent of the compensation," said Rehman.
The state has also released an additional Rs 75 crore for compensating about five lakh families, affected by bird flu scare earlier this year. This is in addition to Rs 25 crore already sanctioned by the Centre.
At least 5,000 chickens died in Narhatta village in the English Bazar police station area at Malda in the last week.
The state government has also directed district hospitals to prepare isolation wards to handle human cases. Also, the state was in the process of forming rapid response team to contain the disease from spreading, and was reviewing stock of medicine and ventilators.
Culling operations to create bird free zones have been completed in three areas of two districts of Assam, from where avian flu has been reported taking the number of birds culled so far to nearly 4 lakh, official sources said. The 18-day exercise ended in the areas covering a radius of 3 km in Kamrup Rural and Kamrup Metro districts while the operations continued elsewhere in the state with the state veterinary and animal husbandry department aiming to create bird free zones in the other affected areas very soon.
Nearly 5,40,000 affected birds have been targeted with 1.40 lakh birds remaining to be culled, sources said.
Meanwhile, reports of unusual death of birds continued to pour in from areas under Guwahati City, Naoboicha and Narayanpur of Lakhimpur district, Dolongpar village of Tamulpur and Chaulpara block of Sibsagar district.

[Giuseppe]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

INDIA: WEST BENGAL, AVIAN INFLUENZA VIRUS H5N1 POULTRY EPIZOOTICS CONFIRMED (12/16/2008) [Govt of India - Min. Agriculture]

Original PDF Document at LINK.


<table style="width: auto;"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;">From TABLES</td></tr></tbody></table>

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[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=4 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=articleheader>40 teams ready to respond to bird calls
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor>OUR CORRESPONDENT</TD></TR><TR><TD class=story align=left><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=172 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD> </TD></TR><TR><TD class=articleauthor align=left>The almost deserted chicken market in Siliguri on Tuesday after laboratory reports confirmed avian flu in Malda. Picture by Kundan Yolmo </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Siliguri, Dec.16: Forty rapid response teams have been formed across north Bengal to deal with bird flu if is detected in any other district of the region.
The animal husbandry department has also issued instructions to spray disinfectants on vehicles coming from neighbouring Assam, a state that borders Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar where there has been an outbreak of avian flu.
?Other than Malda, all the five districts are so far unaffected and we have not yet received any news of unnatural death of poultry birds. But as a precautionary measure, I have directed all officials of my department to keep a close watch over their respective areas,? said Yograj Tamang, the joint director in-charge of north Bengal of the ARD department.
At Barobisha on the Bengal-Assam border in Jalpaiguri district, sodium hypo chloride is being sprayed on trucks entering the district. The movement of poultry, too, has been stopped.
?We have formed 40 rapid response teams. Each team has five members, ready to rush to any area that reports bird flu. The teams will start awareness campaigns and stall movement of poultry, if the need arises. Our staff have already started collecting serum from birds across the region,? said Tamang.
On March 27, bird flu was detected at Saheber Kamat and Senpara, areas adjoining Jalpaiguri town. Sarad Dwivedi, the Siliguri subdivisional officer (SDO), held a meeting with the block development officers of Matigara, Naxalbari, Phansidewa and Kharibari. The officers have been told to prepare a report on the poultry birds in their respective areas.
Rabindranath Ghosh, the deputy director of ARD?s Siliguri office, said poultry farms across the subdivision were being checked.
?We have set up a check post at Murligach near Bidhannagar where vehicles from Malda, North Dinajpur and South Dinajpur districts are being sprayed with disinfectants,? Ghosh said.
The retail poultry market remained unaffected even today. Ratan Pal, the secretary of the Siliguri Poultry Byabsayee Samiti, said: ?Since none of the birds from our area was affected, there has not been much effect on the sales.?
But wholesale traders are facing losses, as they are not being allowed to send any poultry to neighbouring states. ?There are more than thousand wholesale traders, who are in a spot. We know culling has started in the state but we expect things to be normal in the next one month,? said Sumit Ghosh, a wholesale trader and a member of the North Bengal Poultry Association.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/108121...y_10263301.jsp

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[Shiloh]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Source: http://www.telegraphindia.com/108121...y_10263823.jsp

Cash block stalls culling in flu zone
50 birds killed on Day I
OUR CORRESPONDENT
A chicken being killed at Sabjipara, about 12km from Malda town. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Dec. 16: Only 50 chickens could be culled today in the district?s bird-flu zone as the cash to compensate poultry owners reached too late in the day.

Jahanara Begum, who brought four chickens for culling from Sahidpur village in Narhatta, said: ?We are not ready to give up our chickens for nothing. We would rather sell it in the market.?[/U]

Eight teams that fanned out across 13 mouzas ? having 40 villages ? around noon returned to Malda town when the money did not reach Narhatta by 5.30pm.

Only one team that stayed put till 6.30pm culled 50 chickens in Sabjipara village.

All poultry within 3km of Narhatta, where bird flu was confirmed last evening, has to be culled.

District magistrate Sridhar Ghosh said it took time to encash the government?s bank draft of Rs 40 lakh, carried to Malda by Gopal Chakrabarty, deputy director of the animal resource department?s regional laboratory in Belgachhia, Calcutta. Chakrabarty has been told to monitor the culling operation.

At 6pm, Ghosh said: ?The culling teams have got the cash.?

The operation would continue tomorrow.

Villagers in the Narhatta gram panchayat area, about 12km from Malda town, said many crows had been found dead. ?I threw away six dead crows from near my house this morning,? said Abdul Jabbar of Budhia village.

Residents said 5,000 chickens had died over the past week. Bhopal?s High Security Animal Disease Laboratory has confirmed the presence of the avian flu virus in the area.

The animal resource department is paying Rs 20-50 for a country chicken, Rs 35-75 for a duck and Rs 10 for a quail, depending on the size of the birds. The compensation for a broiler chicken is Rs 40.

Additional district magistrate Purna Chandra **** said: ?We have set up 18 teams of 11 members each to cull over 16,000 birds in the next three days. Each team will include policemen and officials from the panchayat, health and animal resource departments.?

Sale of chickens has been banned in the vicinity of Narhatta, but local Congress MLA Krishnendu Chowdhury demanded a ban across Englishbazar block. ?Otherwise, the infection is bound to spread.?
Top

[Shiloh]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Source: http://www.thestatesman.net/page.new...ss=1&id=236108

Hundreds of crows die after poultry deaths

Statesman News Service
MALDA, Dec. 16: Hundreds of crows have died since yesterday in Budhia village at Norhatta in English Bazaar block, the spot where more than 3,500 chickens died of Bird Flu, causing panic among the people.
The villagers suspect that the dead crows might have eaten the carcass of the Bird Flu affected chickens. The CMOH, Malda, Mr Srikanta Roy, said that this could be a possibility.
Despite the situation, there is no awareness campaign at Norhatta against consumption of chicken. Children could be seen playing around with the dead crows that had simply fallen off the trees in the area. It may be noted that the local gram panchayat yesterday decided to inform people that they should not eat chicken.
Mostaq Mian, a resident of Budhia village, said that despite warnings, the people are consuming the dead chickens. ?They do not know about Bird Flu and termed it Ranikhet, a disease often found in poultry, the people are consuming the dead birds,? he said. To substantiate the claim, Mrs Rosia Bibi, a resident of the area said that she ate chicken yesterday and today and yet nothing had happened to her or her family members.
The Malda CMOH, Mr Roy, said that the multipurpose workers, including the ICDS and other voluntary workers were asked to inform the people against consuming dead birds. ?We have decided to ask the religious figureheads to announce the same from the mosques during prayer sessions,? he added.
?We have not received instructions to cull crows till now. We are monitoring the situation and completion of culling is our first priority,? said Malda ADM Mr PC Sit.

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Malda culling plan goes haywire
17 Dec 2008, 0245 hrs IST, TNN

MALDA/KOLKATA: Thanks to the lack of co-ordination among government officials on Tuesday, culling was hampered severely in the bird-flu affected areas of Malda.
While the target for a three-four day operation is 20,000 fowl, government teams managed to cull just 150 birds till late evening.
All day the culling teams stood waiting as villagers refused to give up their birds without compensation money, which was yet to reach the district officials. At Budhia, which has seen hundreds of chickens dying over the past two days, people mobbed panchayat samiti sabhapati Akram Hossain. Hossain admitted, "There was lack of co-ordination, which delayed the culling."
By the time problems were sorted out, dusk had fallen and officials had to return from most of the villages.
The culling teams reached Narhatta High School the operational headquarters around 3 pm before moving off to the villages in smaller groups. But nobody had any money. A district official confided, "We lacked the manpower and hence the delay. Tomorrow things will be in order."
In Kolkata, animal resources development (ARD) department secretary Dilip Chakraborty said, "There is no bar not even in the affected areas of Malda on eating poultry products. The usual method of eating chicken products after boiling at 70 degrees stands." The state government issued a notification on avian flu after the attack was confirmed on Monday.
Malda DM Sridhar Ghosh said, "Around 16,505 chickens within a 3 km radius of Satgharia will be culled. We've received Rs 40 lakh for the culling operation."
The rate of compensation has increased this time: Rs 50 for a full-grown chicken instead of Rs 30. Chickens up to 10 weeks old would get Rs 20. For the first time, Rs 2 would be paid for an egg.
Many villagers doubted if money would reach them, as many English Bazar families that gave up their chickens for culling in March, are yet to receive any money, the administration said. In March, 23,572 birds were culled in English Bazar after bird flu detected in a government poultry firm. An official said, "We have sent a list of beneficiaries and other expenses for culling and mopping, but the funds are yet to reach us."
Several crows also died in Budhia village, triggering speculation that these had contracted avian flu.
The ARD secretary said all districts were on alert and a special vigil had been ordered in the border districts. "The forest department has been alerted for any signs of the disease in migratory birds," he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kolkata_/Malda_culling_plan_goes_haywire/rssarticleshow/3848386.cms

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

India starts culling avian flu-infected chickens

Culling of avian flu-affected chickens began yesterday (December 16) in Malda district of West Bengal, India, where bird flu outbreak was confirmed on Monday.
Malda DM Sreedhar Ghosh said 16,000 birds would be killed at 13 places in Narhatta panchayat area.
The government has increased the rate of compensation for poultry to be culled to contain bird flu virus in the affected villages. The decision was taken following the protests by farmers early this year when the district administration faced resistance during culling operations in various district of the state during culling operation, the district administrative officials said.

Avian flu had broken out earlier this year in Chanchal and English Bazar areas where over 86,000 and 23,000 birds were culled respectively.
Many crows have died since MOnday in Budhia village at Narhatta in English Bazar block, the spot where over 3,500 chickens affected by bird flu virus have died, causing panic among the people. The villagers suspect that the dead crows may have consumed the carcass of the bird flu-affected chickens. The CMOH, Malda Srikanta Roy shares the view too.
Nearly 400,000 birds have been culled in some pockets of Assam and Meghalaya even as Arunachal Pradesh took all possible measures to prevent the spread of the avian flu.
The 18-day exercise to create bird free zones was completed in Assam's Kamrup Rural and Metro districts where so far close to 400,000 birds had been slaughtered.
Culling operations were on elsewhere in the state where bird flu had surfaced, official sources in Guwahati said.
The state's veterinary and animal husbandry departments had targeted the number of birds to be culled at around 540,000, they said.
Reports of unusual deaths of birds continued to pour in from some places as the state administration prohibited the sale of poultry in some districts as a precautionary measure.ac

http://www.asianewsnet.net/news.php?id=3148&sec=1

[HenryN]

Re: West Bengal - Poultry (December 2008 -)

Villagers in eastern India resist bird flu poultry cull

Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:31pm IST

By Sujoy Dhar
KOLKATA (Reuters) - Efforts by state authorities in east India to cull poultry to contain the latest outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus are being thwarted by poor villagers hiding their birds, officials said on Wednesday.
Hundreds of veterinary workers in protective suits were only able to kill about 250 birds after they began culling operations in the Malda district of West Bengal on Tuesday.
They have set a target of 16,500 chickens and ducks to be killed by Thursday, with owners to be compensated by the state.
"The villagers tried to hide their poultry that survived the virus," said Bishon Chowdhury, a senior local government official.
"Also, many resisted because the workers arrived without spot payments for the culled birds," he said.
Villagers and poultry farmers are being paid between 20 and 50 rupees for each bird killed, depending on its age.
Officials in West Bengal confirmed the outbreak late on Monday after tests on dead birds. Hundreds of thousands of poultry are already being culled in of Assam and neighbouring Meghalaya.
Health workers and medical experts are also monitoring about 100 villagers in and around Guwahati who had shown signs of the virus. There have been no human cases of H5N1 confirmed in India.

VILLAGERS UPSET
In West Bengal, villagers were upset about losing their poultry before the coming holiday season.
"We lost all 46 birds in our poultry flock. The small compensation would not compensate for the loss in the festival season," said Kadir Fain, a poultry farmer from Norhatta in Malda.
A West Bengal poultry industry official complained about a lack of preventative measures and said that losses from the culling operation would run into many millions of rupees for the state's 5 billion rupee industry.
"The villagers would be worst affected besides us, since this outbreak occurred ahead of the Christmas sale season," said Sheikh Nazrul Islam, president of West Bengal Poultry Welfare Association.
"The government had been lax even after an outbreak was confirmed in Assam," he said.
Senior West Bengal government official Sridhar Ghosh officials said culling teams hoped to accelerate their operations on Wednesday after getting off to a slow start.
Culling so far has been done within a 3 km (2 miles) radius of a village in Malda regarded as the centre of the outbreak. More than 3,500 birds have died in the area in the past 10 days.
Monday's confirmation marked the third outbreak of the disease this year in West Bengal, where 4 million birds were culled in January in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described as India's worst-ever bird flu outbreak.
In Guwahati, health workers, bird flu experts and equipment were rushed in when about 100 people began suffering fever and respiratory infections, symptoms of the H5N1 bird flu virus in humans, after the outbreak was detected there last month.
Experts fear the H5N1 virus might mutate or combine with the highly contagious seasonal influenza virus and spark a pandemic that could kill millions of people across the world.
There have been no human cases of H5N1 since the virus was first reported in India in Maharashtra in 2006.
According to the World Health Organisation, H5N1 flu has infected 391 people in 15 countries and killed 247 of them since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003.

http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-37070820081217?rpc=401&=undefined&sp=true