In an incident last week, the district veterinary office recovered a sack stuffed with dead chicken dumped in the Aduwa Khola. A sample of the chicken sent for testing turned out to be bird-flu positive. It was clear that an unknown poultry farmer had secretly dumped the dead chicken instead of informing the authorities. [break]
Jagadish Panday, chief of the district veterinary office, expressed anxiety over such unscrupulous practices by poultry owners. “It is riskier to dump dead chicken secretly somewhere instead of trying to find out the reason behind the death of the chicken,” said Panday.
“Such practices might have taken place elsewhere also and this poses a grave threat to public health,” he added.
He also informed that living near bird-flu infected chicken is riskier than eating the infected meat.
Even poultry owners admit that diseased chicken are being sold in the market. “Many people in the poultry business do not ask the authorities to check their dead chicken,” said Rabi Nepal of Bahundangi, who had come to the veterinary office to inform about chicken dying at his farm. “People hurriedly sell off their chicken if they start dying suddenly,” Nepal said.
Ten cases of bird flu have already been confirmed in the district in the last 15 days. Over 5,000 birds have already been culled in this period. Still, chicken are being supplied to the market from the affected area.
As per government directives, chicken farming should be banned in a 1-3 km radius for 90 days once bird flu is confirmed in the locality. But the authorities do not turn up for monitoring.
“It is not unusual for poultry farmers to sell off their chicken hurriedly if any symptom of the disease occurs, as it is a question of huge loss for them. If you contact the authorities, they cull all your birds and provide only paltry compensation,” one of the poultry farmers informed on condition of anonymity.
According to Panday, there is no place left in the district which can claim to be bird-flu free. “We have heard that crows are dying in large numbers in Kakadvitta and surrounding areas. If they died of bird flu, I think the disease has spread all over the district,” said Panday.
However, the authorities concerned have shied away from the responsibility of monitoring the market, citing a human resource crunch.
According to officials, infected birds have been imported from the Indian market also because of the open border and lack of proper monitoring.
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