Ahmedabad: With the test report of the serum of some of the dead birds in a non-government animal care organization here coming positive for deadly ‘bird flu’ virus and mysterious appearance of hundreds of guinea fowls (a kind of poultry of Chinese origin) in a close-by locality the district administration today declared the Hathijan village on the outskirts of the city and adjoining area in one kilometer periphery as ‘infected zone’ and ordered the culling of over 750 birds as a preventive measure.

The area in 10 km periphery from Hathijan has been declared as ‘alert zone’.

Collector Ms Avantika Singh today said that of the 26 dead birds in the Asha Foundation, serum samples of five were sent to a laboratory in Bhopal and has come positive for bird flu virus. These were the birds that were brought to the animal care organization here from Crawford market in Mumbai on January 28 and some of these died on January 31 after which the samples were sent for test. Apart from these a truck from Allahabad had yesterday dumped several guinea fowls in close-by Vastral area. These (around 750 in number) were also under the custody of the Asha foundation. Though so far guinea fowls looked healthy yet as a precautionary measure (as they were kept in the same locality where the infected birds earlier died ) all of these along with the remaining birds brought from Mumbai are being culled (read killed) scientifically to prevent any possible spread of the virus.

The collector said that rapid response teams of Animal Husbandry and Panchayat departments have been formed to keep a close watch on the poultry and human population in the alert and infected zone.

The district administration and the animal husbandry department have issued notification in this regard.

Notably the bird flu virus H5N1 avian influenza first emerged in 2003, in 2013 a H7N9 strain of avian influenza in poultry emerged which caused human deaths in China.

ASHA Foundation situated in Hathijan works for street animals and birds, providing free treatment for the city of Ahmedabad. Mr Harmesh Bhatt, a law student from Pune university, started the foundation. The facilities include a mobile clinic, a hospital and shelter service.

DeshGujarat