At least 17,000 chickens and quails were culled in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh after avian influenza or bird flu was detected at a state-run poultry farm in the district, officials said on Saturday.
After some chickens were recently found dead at the poultry farm in Chakradhar Nagar here, samples were sent to the Bhopal-based National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) for testing, an official release stated.
The tests confirmed the H5N1 virus on Friday night, following which Raigarh Collector Kartikeya Goel convened an emergency meeting with senior officials to devise a strategy to deal with the situation, it said.
An official said that as per the standard procedure, personnel from the municipal corporation and veterinary and health departments conducted a joint operation overnight, culling 5,000 chickens and 12,000 quails and destroying 17,000 eggs and poultry feed on the farm.