The MoAD has declared Bhaktapur district, and Kritipur, Thankot and Gothatar areas of Kathmandu as emergency zones a month ago following the rapid spread of bird flu virus in the areas. Veterinary offices of the respective districts destroyed all the chickens of those areas. "We have already destroyed all the chickens of the emergency declared areas of Kathmandu. Remaining local chickens of the Bhaktapur will be culled within the next couple of days," Dr Bijayakanta Jha, spokesperson of the DoAH, said. Vet officials have already destroyed chickens of organized poultry farms of the district. [break]
"It is up to the ministry to decide whether to lift ban on sales of poultry products or not. But we will request it to uplift," Bijayakanta Jha, spokesperson of the DoAH, said. He said that the emergency was also imposed by the ministry and decision to lift the ban would have to be taken by it. Dr Jha said that the office had to struggle hard to persuade poultry farmers to get their permission to destroy the chickens.
Meanwhile, the DoAH said that about 1.7 million chickens have been culled in the last two months in Kathmandu and Bhaktapur districts. The rapid response teams of the vet technicians culled over 2.2 million eggs and 1,20,000 kg chicken feed stored in the infected farms.
Related story
Make chicken affordable
