4 crows found dead in C'garh village; samples sent for test

Amid bird flu outbreak insome states, four crows were found dead in ChhattisgarhsBalod district, officials said on Friday.

Samples of three of them were sent for laboratorytesting to ascertain the cause of death, they said.

The district administration has alerted peopleassociated with backyard and commercial poultry to reportimmediately to the nearest veterinary centre if they witnessunexplained death in birds, the officials said.

The death of four crows was reported from Pondivillage, located around 13 km away from Balod town, in thelast two days, Collector Janmejay Mahobe said.

The cause of their deaths was not immediately knownand their samples have been sent to the National Institute ofHigh Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, for testing tocheck if they died due to bird flu, he said.

Another official of the district said, on Wednesday, acrow was found dead in the village following which localsimmediately burnt it.

Next day, when three more crows were foundunconscious, they informed the local authorities, he said,adding the birds later died.

A team from the animal husbandry department was rushed to the village which seized the carcasses and sent their samples for testing, he said.

The veterinary department has been asked to monitor and mass death of birds in the district, he added.

The Chhattisgarh government sounded a bird flu alert after confirmed cases of avian influenza were found in neighboring Madhya Pradesh and some other states, including Kerala.

So far no case of bird flu has come to light in the state. The animal husbandry department has issued extensive guidelines to district collectors, superintendents of police(SPs), and district veterinary officers in this direction, a public relations department official in Raipur said.

Officials have been instructed to keep a tab on transportation of poultry birds from other states to Chhattisgarh and carry out inspection of government-run and private poultry farms, he said.

They have been asked to make people associated with the poultry business aware of bird-flu and its prevention, he added.

As a precautionary measure, samples of poultry birds from government-run farms in seven districts were earlier sent for avian influenza testing, but their report came negative, the official said.