- Related News: 1,000 poultry die in 2 Morang farms
The ministry’s explanation came amid widespread fear among the public about possible outbreak of bird flu in Tankisinuwari area where the farms are located.
“All samples of dead chickens brought from those farms tested negative for bird flu during tests at the Central Laboratory in Tripureshwar on Sunday. The chickens died of infection by Newcastle disease which is caused by Paramixo virus,” Dr Hari Dahal, spokesperson of the ministry told myrepublica.com.
Those samples had tested negative for bird flu during the test at regional lab in Biratnagar on Saturday.
Dahal also informed that Biratnagar-based Regional Livestock Directorate confirmed death of 380 chickens in two commercial farms with report of 70 more sick chickens.
Media reports on Saturday said more than 1,000 poultry died in two days in the commercial farms run by Dinesh Sitaula and Kiran Kafle of Tankisinuwari-4 of Morang district.
Local people were panicked as the word of mass death of chickens spread as they feared it could be bird flu. Bird flu was found in Jhapa district one and a half months ago. They had demanded explanation from the government over last week’s poultry deaths.
The owners of the farms have claimed that they suffered a loss of about Rs 200,000 with the death of chickens. A team of veterinary technicians from regional laboratory in Biratnagar had collected the samples and conducted immediate test before sending them to Kathmandu for further investigation.
prabhakar@myrepublica.com
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