238 bird deaths reported in Maharashtra, over 11,000 birds culled in Latur

Pune, Jan 13 (PTI)As many as 238 birds includingchickens were reported dead in Maharashtra on Wednesday andsamples have been sent to the labs to check if avian influenzawas the cause, officials from the Animal Husbandry departmentsaid.

The deaths were reported from Latur (18), Beed (3),Akola (3), Yavatmal (86), Ahmadnagar (7), Pune (13),Bhandara (79) and Solapur (9), among other districts.

The samples would be sent to the National Institute ofHigh-Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal and DIS, Pune fortesting.

A total of 2,096 bird deaths have been recorded inMaharashtra since January 8 when the outbreak of bird flu wasnoticed.

As per the earlier reports received from the Bhopallab, samples from Mumbai, Ghodbunder (Thane district) andDapoli for crows and herons and those of poultry birds fromMuramba (Parbhani district) were found positive for H5N1strain, while samples from Beed district were found positivefor the H5N8 strain.

''Accordingly, these areas are being declared as an''Infected Area'' and action is being taken to enforce theprescribed preventive measures,'' the official release said.

''As per these measures, all poultry birds within 1 kmradius of the infected poultry farm at Muramba in districtParbhani (containing) approx 5,500 birds and 11,060 birds fromLatur are being culled,'' said the release.

Owners of poultry farms and general public shouldinform about unusual bird deaths, it said.

More than 300 poultry birds were found dead in Nagpurand other parts of Vidarbha in the last few days, an officialsaid.

''We have sent 14 samples from Nagpur, Bhandara,Chandrapur and Gondia to Pune lab for testing. Today, 14poultry birds were found dead at Kolamedi village in Nagpurdistrict,'' he said.