The death toll of migratory birds due to bird flu has crossed 2900 at Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary in Himachal’s Kangra district.
“On January 5, as many as 336 migratory birds were reported dead at Pong wetland pushing the death toll to 2736. The carcasses of more than 250 birds were found at Pong till Wednesday evening while the counting was still on,” said an official of the Wildlife wing of Forest Department, Himachal while talking to The Pioneer.
The official said that maximum fatalities continued to be reported in Bar-Headed Goose at the wetland. Apart from this, deaths have been reported in eight more species of birds.
It was on January 4 when the deadly avian influenza- H5N1 was confirmed by NIHASAD, Bhopal in five migratory birds, whose carcasses were found in Pong wetland.
Meanwhile, an official spokesman of the Wildlife wing of the Forest Department said that the Department is working actively to contain the outbreak of H5NI Avian Influenza virus in the state.
The field staff has been directed to maintain strict vigil and active surveillance of the situation, he said.
The spokesperson said that the Avian Influenza is a disease caused by a virus that infects domestic poultry and wild birds. Acting as per action plan of Animal Husbandry for preparedness, control and containment of avian Influenza issued by Government of India, rapid response teams have been constituted and deployed for collection and safe disposal of dead birds as per protocol.
The infected areas are being disinfected and sanitized. The whole operation is being supervised by DFO Wildlife Hamirpur, the spokesperson added.
As per the official figures, the Pong Dam wetland, known as 'Birding Paradise', is currently hosting around 60000 migratory birds of different species. The Department has already banned the entry of tourists and other visitors in the Pong Dam area.
NO THREAT OF BIRD FLU IN PUNJAB YET, GOVT FULLY PREPARED, SAYS MINISTER
Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa on Wednesday said that no case of bird flu has been reported in the State so far, but the State Government has taken all precautionary measures to deal with any situation.
At the same time, the Minister maintained that the people, who eat eggs and meat, do not need to be afraid and “they just need to eat these products cooked properly”.
Bajwa, addressing a press conference to list the achievements of the Departments under him, said that the Animal Husbandry Department, along with other departments of the State Government, was closely monitoring to ensure that sub-standard meat and fish were not sold in the market.
e also appealed to the people to refrain from spreading rumours and report any such rumour to the administration immediately.
Notably, the state authorities have alerted officials to keep tabs on any unusual deaths of migratory and poultry birds in the state.
“An advisory has been issued for surveillance of commercial poultry farms and backyard poultry farms to find any unusual mortality in birds,” said the state Animal Husbandry director Harbinder Singh Kahlon.
He said that the advisory has been sent to all 22 deputy directors of the Department to ensure regular visit of field staff to commercial and backyard poultry farms in the state. In case any “unusual mortality” in poultry birds is found, samples will be sent to the Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL), Jalandhar, to ascertain the cause.
Similarly, the Department of Forests and Wildlife Preservation has also issued an advisory for maintaining extra vigil around lakes and wetlands in the state, they said.
Notably, a large number of migratory birds such as gulls, reeve, etc arrive at Harike Pattan in Tarn Taran every year. Other wetlands in the state are in Gurdaspur, Rupnagar and Nangal.
Protocols have also been issued for collection of samples in case any migratory bird is found dead, and all possible precautions were being taken. Reports are that samples of dead migratory birds at Pong Dam Lake sanctuary in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh have tested positive for the H5N8 strain of bird flu. Four lakh poultry birds have died at 20 farms in Haryana's Panchkula district in the past several days.
A team of experts from the RDDL collected samples from the farms on Tuesday.