Peacocks found dead in Maha's Beed test positive for bird flu

The samples of some peacocksfound dead in Maharashtra's Beed district a few days back havetested positive for avian influenza, an official said onThursday.

Three peacocks, two peahens and another wild bird werefound dead in Loni village close to Balaghat mountain range inShirur Kasar taluka of Beed on January 22, the official said.

''The samples of these dead birds were sent to labs foranalysis to check if they died due to avian flu. Their sampleshave tested positive for the bird flu infection,'' he said.

Dr Pradip Aghav, an animal husbandry departmentofficial, said that after this confirmation, samples from 10km periphery of the spot, where these birds were found dead,are being collected.

''We have collected nearly 113 samples from the areaand they are being sent for analysis,'' he said.

''Eight more peacocks were found dead in the nearbyarea after January 22, but they tested negative for bird flu.

Their samples will be analysed to know where these birds werepoisoned,'' he added.