Bird Flu Outbreak: Kanpur Zoo Ordered To Cull All Birds After UP Became 7th State With H5N1 Cases

The district administration is on high alert and the Kanpur zoo has been shut down until further notice after bird flu was confirmed in wild chickens found dead in the zoo four days ago.

As per the order, all birds living in the enclosures will be culled by Sunday evening. The area up to one kilometer from the zoo has been classified as a containment zone. The sale of meat has also been banned within a radius of 10 kilometres.

The Centre on Saturday had confirmed the outbreak of bird flu or avian influenza in Uttar Pradesh, taking the total number of affected states to seven.

Meanwhile, the confirmation of bird flu in Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, is awaited after the samples were sent for testing. Besides Uttar Pradesh, the other six states where bird flu is confirmed are Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.

“So far, the disease has been confirmed from seven states. …The Department has issued advisory to the affected states so as to avoid further spread of the disease,” the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, and Dairying wrote in a statement.

In Chhattisgarh, suspicious deaths of birds in poultry and wild birds in Balod district were reported on Friday night and Saturday morning and after that samples were sent to the labs concerned.

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In Delhi, ducks were found dead in Sanjay lake and the samples have also been sent for testing.

Similarly in Maharashtra, the samples of dead crows from Mumbai, Thane, Dapoli, Parbhani and Beed districts have been sent to Bhopal-based ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (ICAR-NIHSAD).

“After confirmation of Avian Influenza positive samples from ICAR-NIHSAD in poultry (two poultry farms) of Panchkula district, Haryana, positive cases of Avian Influenza in migratory birds were reported in Shivpuri, Rajgarh, Shajapur, Agar, Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh, Zoological Park, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Pratapgarh and Dausa districts of Rajasthan,” the ministry said.

Earlier a culling operation was undertaken in two affected districts of Kerala wherein over 69,000 birds were killed.

States have been directed to increase surveillance around water bodies, live bird markets, zoos and poultry farms and also to ensure proper disposal of the carcass, and strengthening of bio-security in poultry farms.

Meanwhile, the anxiety over the spread has adversely affected the poultry industry as prices of eggs and broiler chicken have dropped because of a decline in demand.