More than a thousand of mice were on Saturday morning found dead at Balirajpur and Khamarpada village under Bagada panchayat under Kendrapara block, informed CDVO Chaityana Charan Sethy According to locals of Balirajpur, on Saturday morning, the villagers unearthed the mice lying dead on road outside of their houses.
When the cats and the crows started feasting on the dead mice, they were found sick. A crow died on the spot.
The locals suspect that the mice might have died in large numbers due to some outbreak of disease or they might have consumed poison at some field.
The villagers later informed the matter to the district Collector and the CDVO. Acting on the information, a veterinary official team led by CDVO Sethy rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. The veterinary officials later conducted inquiry and collected nearly 15 samples of dead mice and also one live mouse for conducting the sample test at the District Veterinary Office laboratory.
The dead mice samples were sent to the Animal Disease Research Institute at Fulanakhara and also to Orissa College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry at Bhubaneswar to ascertain the exact reason behind the mice death, stated Sethy.
Sethy, the CDVO, suspects that the mice could have died due to heavy cyclonic rain on Friday. Use of pesticide is also suspected to be the cause behind the death of the mice.
Meanwhile, the veterinary personnel launched an awareness drive among the locals to burry all the dead mice by digging earth. They also asked the locals not to use the well water in which the mice were found floating dead. The locals were also told to use well water after disinfecting it, stated Sethy.