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With the outbreak of bird flu in parts of Kerala causing serious concern, the State Government today worked out a plan to cull as many 1.5 lakh birds, including poultry, in the three affected districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to formulate preventive measures to contain the spread of H5 Avian Influenza virus.
The issue came to a fore a few days back with the mass death of over 15,000 ducks in the water-logged Kuttanad area in Alappuzha.
Tests on dead samples conducted at the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory at Bhopal has confirmed avian influenza as the cause of the mass death of the ducks, following which a red alert has been sounded in Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Kottayam districts to restrict movement of poultry and allied products.
Briefing presspersons on the action plan, Animal Husbandry Minister K P Mohanan and Health Minister V S Sivakumar said a rapid action team equipped with all the paraphernalia, including masks and preventive medicine kits, would be sent to carry out the culling.
All sorts of birds, including pets, would be burnt to death by using kerosene. The Government would provide compensation to those affected at the rate of Rs 75 for each chick of below two months growth, and Rs 150 for birds of growth of above two months.
Since there is a chance of human beings getting infected with the virus, people in the area had been alerted to keep away from places where the culling would take place.
As a precautionary measure, the sale and transportation of eggs, meat and allied poultry products from 10 km of the affected areas had been banned.
A three-member team from the National Centre for Disease Control will be visiting the affected areas soon to make an assessment of the situation and advise the State authorities as part of the central protocol for tackling the situation.
According to a primary assessment, the virus was spread by droppings of migratory birds flying into the area.
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