The veterinary office has beefed up the surveillance and also restricted the export of the poultry products. The meat shops of Chitwan have been selling chickens and poultry products brought mainly from Kathmandu through Thankot-Pokhara route on a regularly basis. [break]
According to Dr Ram Kumar Karki, Chief of the veterinary office, they are positive that the chicken found dead in Sapana Fresh Meat House, owned by Bhimsen Shrestha, at Shaktikhor VDC had died from the avian influenza and that they were brought from the poultry farms of Kathmandu on July 22.
Total of 27 chickens were found dead when an inspection team from the veterinary office reached the meat shop.
"We are maintaining a high alert in all the quarantine check posts in the district because we don´t want this incident to happen again," said Karki.
On Saturday, an inspection team deployed by the veterinary office had detained a truck carrying chicks and culled 6,500 birds in Narayanghat.
A vehicle was transporting the chicks to various poultry farms of Hetauda from India.
Before this incident, the bird flu was detected in 15 poultry farms in the district of which 11 farms were from Mangalpur region.
Based on the past survey, Gondrang and Gauriganj of Bharatpur have been marked as highly vulnerable areas.
"We have destroyed all the infected chickens in these areas, and we are still monitor the situation," said Karki.
Authorities in Chitwan have culled more than 71,000 chickens, destroyed 15 tons of chicken feed and 32,515 eggs until now.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of Chitwan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Poultry Business, Dr. Til Chandra Bhattarai shared that the locals involved in poultry business are now self aware of the viral influenza and taking preventive measures themselves.
"We never keep the chickens or chicks brought from outside Chitwan because a single mistake can lead to a huge loss of money and human lives as well," said a local businessman.
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