Maharashtra: 289 more birds found dead, tally 18,700

The tally of bird deaths inMaharashtra reached 18,700 with 289 more birds dying invarious parts of the state on Monday, a state governmentofficial said on Tuesday.

The samples of these birds have been sent to theBhopal-based laboratory to find out whether they were infectedby avian influenza pathogen, he said.

''Out of these 289 birds, 260 were poultry birds whileothers are herons, parrots, crows etc,'' the official said.

He said 51,090 poultry birds, eight ducks, 38,798 eggsand 55,476 kg poultry feed have been destroyed until now inthe infected zones in Maharashtra.

Bird flu outbreak was confirmed in some districts ofMaharashtra earlier this month.

''Culling of poultry birds, destruction of eggs,droppings, manure, feed etc has been initiated in the radii ofone-km around the infected poultry farms,'' he said.

Culling is basically the mass slaughter of domesticpoultry birds, such as chickens and ducks, to contain thespread of bird flu. During this process, all domestic birds inan infected area, where cases of bird flu have been reported,are slaughtered and their remains are buried.