Maharashtra: Over 11,000 birds culled in Latur district

Over 11,000 birds have beenculled in Kendrewadi and Sukni villages in Latur district ofMaharashtra to stop the spread of bird flu infection, a seniorofficial said on Wednesday.

He said report on the sample of birds found dead inVanjarwadi village, also in Latur district, is awaited.

''The administration has culled 11,064 birds inKendrewadi and Sukni villages in the radius of one-km of thearea where samples of birds had tested positive for bird flu.

The culling process in these two villages is complete. We willsend a report to the state government by tomorrow,'' Laturcollector B P Prithviraj told PTI.

At least 225 birds had died in Kendrewadi till Monday,while 12 hens died in Sukni and four in Wanjarwadi of Udgirtaluka in Latur district.

Samples of dead birds from Kendrewadi and Sukni weresent for testing and their results came out positive for theavian infleunza infection, an official had said, adding thatreports of samples from Wanjarwadi are awaited.

Meanwhile, a white breasted Kingfisher was found founddead in Himayat Bagh area of Aurangabad city.

The carcass of the bird is handed over to AnimalHusbandry department, an official said, adding that the samplewill be sent to Pune for testing on Thursday.

''There was no tracheal discharge seen in this bird,''Dr Vallabh Joshi of animal husbandry department hospital said.

As many as 2,359 birds have died in various parts ofMaharashtra since January 8, when the first such death due toavian influenza was reported, officials have said.

Separately, as the samples of dead crows found inMumbai have confirmed the presence of an avian influenzastrain, anxious citizens have started calling the helpline ofthe civic body.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's disastercontrol helpline received 170 calls about bird deaths in thelast 24 hours, a civic official said on Wednesday.

Mumbai had reported its first cases of bird fluearlier this week after samples taken from two dead crowstested positive for the infection.

Following this, the civic body on Monday appealed tocitizens to contact its helpline number 1916, if they comeacross any bird deaths.

The disaster control helpline received 170 complaintsabout bird deaths from 7 am on Tuesday till 7 am on Wednesday,the official said, adding that a few of these may be repeatedcomplaints.

The day before, the civic body had received 55complaints in a single shift between 7 am to 3 pm.

As per the directives under ''Avian influenza actionplan to control and prevent revised guidelines 2021,'' the deadbirds have to be disposed of by burying them in a pit.