Virus spreading as trucks smuggle birds out of West Bengal flu zone

Not willing to incur any financial loss because of the outbreak of bird flu, well-networked cartels in West Bengal are smuggling out chicken...

Not willing to incur any financial loss because of the outbreak of bird flu, well-networked cartels in West Bengal are smuggling out chicken and poultry products from affected areas, even sending consignments to neighbouring states to minimise the loss.

This could be one of the reasons why the deadly virus has spread so fast — from one district in the beginning to almost eight districts now.

Two lorries full of poultry birds and four lorries carrying eggs were intercepted at the Birbhum-Murshidabad border today. These were being smuggled out of the Rampurhat area in Birbhum where the virus was first detected and where culling operations are on.

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“We are trying our best to cull the birds in Rampurhat sub-division, but there is public resistance and some more time is needed. We cannot rule out the fact that some poultry birds are being smuggled out. We have informed the police. This is a dangerous trend and may help spread the virus. The poultry that was intercepted will be culled,” said Dilip Das, Director of the state Animal Resources Development department.

“It is a fact that birds from affected areas are being smuggled out. We have told the police to keep vigil but they just don’t have the numbers when you look at the magnitude of the problem,” said Prasanna Kumar Mondol, SDO, Rampurhat.

In Birbhum, which was the first to be affected, four lakh birds are to be culled. So far 117,736 birds have been culled — a figure which the locals say is exaggerated. Culling teams are not to be seen in many pockets, including 20 villages in Kestoghora and Masra GP under Rampurhat 1.