Bird flu scare: 3 peacocks,2 peahens found dead in Maha's Beed

The deadcrows were recovered from eight villages and one of thesamples had tested positive for the avian influenza, he said.An official from the state animal husbandry departmenthad said on Friday that samples of birds from 16 districts inMaharashtra have tested positive for avian flu.The first case of bird flu was reported in the stateon January 8, he had said.

Amid cases of avian influenzareported from parts of Maharashtra, six birds, including threepeacocks and two peahens, were found dead in Beed district ofthe state, officials said on Saturday.

The samples of these birds, which were found dead onFriday, have been sent for testing to check if they died dueto avian flu, they said.

The carcasses of these birds were recovered from nearLoni village located close to Balaghat mountain range inShirur Kasar taluka of the district, an official from theanimal husbandry department told PTI.

''Six birds were found dead in the hilly part near thevillage. Three of them were peacocks, while two were peahens.

The samples of these dead birds have been sent to a laboratoryin Pune for testing,'' he said.

District animal husbandry officer Dr Vijay Deshmukhsaid the teams from the department were carrying out furtherformalities.

When contacted, Dr Pradeep Aghav, an animal husbandrydepartment official, who visited the spot, said that apartfrom the peafowls, one more wild bird was found dead there.

''The birds apparently died on Friday morning and wewere informed about it in the afternoon. Shirur Kasar talukahas reported death of 21 crows since January 12. The deadcrows were recovered from eight villages and one of thesamples had tested positive for the avian influenza,'' he said.

An official from the state animal husbandry departmenthad said on Friday that samples of birds from 16 districts inMaharashtra have tested positive for avian flu.

The first case of bird flu was reported in the stateon January 8, he had said.