On Sunday, district officials in Kozhikode corporation culled 1,700 poultry and pet birds to curtail the spread of avian influenza also called bird flu. The culling drive was undertaken after chickens from Vengeri and Kodiyathoor villages were found positive with bird flu.
The Health department sounded an alert for a 10 km radius and initiated a special culling drive at poultry farms under the Kodiyathur grama panchayat, reported Manoramaonline. The culling was carried out by 24 rapid response teams consisting of a veterinary surgeon, four livestock inspectors and an attender, across four wards of the Kodiyathur grama panchayat and two wards under the Kozhikode Corporation. Close to 10,000 birds are expected to be culled in the district.
The culled birds were burnt, while the droppings and eggs of the birds were also burnt as a precaution to contain the spread. Speaking to the Times of India, Dr Nina Kumar, the district chief veterinary officer said that some pet bird owners have shifted their birds to another location to avoid culling, those birds will also be culled in the coming days.
The Forest, Dairy Development and Animal Husbandry Minister K Raju, in the meantime has announced compensation for the affected poultry farmers. The compensation amount is to be decided at a later time, informed the minister. A state-wide alert was issued after the Bhopal based National Institute of High-Security Animal Disease (NISHAD) confirmed the bird flu cases in Kodiyathur on Friday, after around 2000 poultry birds had reportedly died at a private poultry farm.
The neighbouring Kannur district has imposed a prohibition on the transport of poultry, while a ban on the sale of meat has been imposed at Kodiyathur in Kozhikode district. The Kozhikode District Collector Sreeram Sambasiva Rao appealed to the public not to panic and stated that an action plan has been drawn up to contain the spread. Kerala last faced a bird flu epidemic in 2016, when thousands of ducks were culled in Alappuzha district.
Control Room number: 0495-2762050