Over 100 samples of live poultry from HP sent for testing bird flu

Kangra Additional District Magistrate Rohit Rathour, meanwhile, on Wednesday directed officials to identify at least one site in each sub-division of the district for the safe burial of dead birds.

Over 100 samples of live poultry birds from around the Pong wetland in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district have been sent to test if they suffer from avian influenza, state animal husbandry officials said Wednesday

The poultry samples were sent following the death of over 3,000 migratory water birds in and around the wetland after December 28 apparently due to an outbreak of the H5N1 avian influenza among the birds, they added

Around 120 samples of domestic live poultry birds, collected randomly from around the wetland, have been sent for testing, they said. So far no unusual death among the poultry has occurred here but if the samples test positive, all poultry birds in backyard farms within one kilometre of the lake's periphery will have to be culled and commercial farms in the area would be disinfected, they added. Kangra Additional District Magistrate Rohit Rathour, meanwhile, on Wednesday directed officials to identify at least one site in each sub-division of the district for the safe burial of dead birds.