As bird flu situation in Kerala becomes serious, high alert in K’taka

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Karnataka’s Animal Husbandry Department has declared high alert in all of the State’s districts bordering Kerala and instructed other districts to be vigilant too as bird flu has caused major concern in Kerala.

The high alert has been declared in the Dakshina Kannada, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar and Kodagu districts on the Kerala-Karnataka border.

Compulsory inspection and chemical spraying must be done for all vehicles coming from Kerala to these districts. Poultries must be informed to take extra precautions and safety measures. If there are abnormal mass deaths of birds government veternarians must visit and check the site. If the bird flu symtomps are found, then samples should be sent to Bengaluru’s Indian Veterinary Research Institute, the department further instructed.

“Presently, no birds are being shipped to or from Kerala. Yet precaution has to be taken. There is nothing to fear but if the general public notices any mass deaths of bird then they must immediately report it to nearest government veterinary hospital,” said Deputy Director of Animal Husbandry Department Dr Suresh.

Thousands of ducks and chickens have already been culled in Kerala, and the State government has declared a ‘State-wide emergency’ banning use, sale and transportation of meat, eggs and fertilizers in the districts of Alappuzha and Kottayam.

Bird flu cases have also been reported in Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.