Bird flu: 51,888 birds culled in Telangana

The Telangana government has culled 51,888 poultry birds at Thorur village in Rangareddy district, the "epicentre" of the avian influenza outbreak.
In an official statement, the Union Agriculture Ministry said that the "state government has already started control and containment operation on April 14 and culled 51,888 birds by April 15".
There are 18 villages and about 1.45 lakh poultry birds in one km radius of the epicenter. Of which, 41,040 birds died by April 14 due to bird flu, it said.
On April 13, Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) had confirmed five samples to be positive for H5N1 Avian Influenza Virus.

NIHSAD had received 10 dead birds from Srinivas Reddy Poultry Farm in Rangareddy district.
After the samples were found positive, the state government was asked to take immediate measures to control and contain spread of the disease at at the epicenter.

Telangana produces six crore eggs per day, and the poultry population is just under seven crore, according to officials.
The state government has initiated preliminary studies to identify the source of infection.
Yesterday, a senior state government official had said that 62 teams were on the job of culling all poultry birds, including healthy ones, in the infected zone, where their number is estimated to be 1.45 lakh.