The forest department and the animal husbandry department of the Vadodara administration found carcasses of 19 native white ibis near a pond in Dhabasa village in Padra taluka on Thursday, setting off fears of Avian flu again.(Representational) With 921 birds found dead across the state on Friday, the toll has risen to 15,445 since January 8. Meanwhile, Avian Influenza or bird flu in poultry birds has been confirmed in 16 districts.
A total of 921, 814 poultry birds were found dead on Friday. Among them, the highest toll was reported in Jalgaon (289), then Buldhana (200), Yavatmal (78), Beed (70), Amravati (52), Solapur (39), Thane (19), Raigad (17), Gondia (15), Hingoli (11), Nagpur (9), Satara (7), Osmanabad (4), Jalna (3) and Akola (1). Fifty-three birds, including herons, sparrows and parrots, were found dead on Friday. Of them, 39 were found dead in Thane, three in Pune, two each in Mumbai, Ratnagiri and Chandrapur and one each in Ahmednagar and Latur.
In all, 54 crows have been found dead in the state – 34 in Thane, nine in Ratnagiri, six in Mumbai, three in Latur and one each in Palghar and Ahmednagar.
According to the containment plan of the Centre, local administration will cull poultry birds within a 1-km radius of farm where bird deaths due to avian influenza have been reported.
As of Saturday, 39,774 poultry birds, eight ducks, 36,714 eggs and 53,046 kg poultry feed have been destroyed. The state government on Friday sanctioned compensation of Rs 1.3 crore for culling of poultry and other birds, eggs and poultry feed, and for operational cost of disease control within 1-km radius of infected area.
