Crow deaths create panic in Hazaribag #birdflu #h5n1

Crow deaths create panic in Hazaribag
 Dec 12, 2011, 12.46AM IST

HAZARIBAG: After Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Ranchi, reports of deaths of 250 crows at a single spot in Bishnugarh and about 50 crows in Katkumsandi block of Hazaribag district in the past 48 hours have created panic among the local people.

District animal husbandry officer Yamuna Prasad said after getting reports of such a largescale deaths of crows in some parts of the district, the department had deputed employees to create awareness among the villagers at every 5km with necessary instruction.

State coordinator of the Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) Satya Prakash said the Union government had sent experts team to Jamshedpur and Bokaro to take blood samples of the dead crows and had mentioned that the crows died of H5N-1.

"The birds died there because of some virus which may be the same that resulted in a large number of deaths in Jamshedpur, Bokaro and Ranchi," said Prakash who visited Katkumsandi to review the situation.

He said since the matter was being looked after by the animal husbandry department in the districts, a team from Hazaribag has been sent to Bishnugarh and Katkumsandi and the sample collected from there will be sent to the Indian Vetinary Research Institute at Bhopal and the Indian Institute of Virology at Pune to find out whether the birds died of avian flu or not.

Following these deaths he asked people take preventive measures for avoiding any infection. People of the affected villages were instructed not to handle the dead crows without gloves. They were also instructed to bury the dead crows by digging deep holes so that the disease cannot not spread to more areas.

The employees of the animal husbandry department have been trained to handle the situation after using masks to avoid any infection. He said the department employees, who would handle the cases, were given preventive medicine for the disposal of dead crows and removal of the carcasses.

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