48,000 chickens culled in 24 hrs

A crow swoops down and grabs a piece of slaughtered chickens' waste dumped near a cage of live chickens at Karwan Bazar kitchen market in the capital yesterday. This could help spread diseases among fowls. Photo: Shafiq Alam

At least 48,000 poultry infected with the bird flu virus have been culled across the country over 24 hours till yesterday afternoon as reports of more suspected deaths flow in.
The government has stepped up vigilance and opened more control rooms in its efforts to fight further spread of the virus across the country.
At least 26,000 poultry and domestic fowls were culled and 20,000 eggs destroyed at villages within the one-kilometre radius of sadar upazila in Kushtia on Sunday night, reports our correspondent.
Officials have also begun compiling a list of poultry farms and chicken owners in the one-kilometre radius beyond this area.
District administration decided to cull the birds soon after the flu virus was detected at Kushtia Agro Centre, the biggest poultry farm in the district. At least 7000 fowls died at the farm on Friday night. Tests later confirmed that they died of bird flu, also known as avian flu.
Kushtia district administration has taken up different steps to combat the menace. Several control rooms have been opened at the offices of district administration, Kushtia municipality, Livestock and Civil Surgeon.
Our Narsingdi correspondent reports that 22,000 chickens from 11 poultry farms were culled and buried at Raipura upazila yesterday afternoon in presence of Deputy Commissioner of the district Md Jillar Rahman.
The presence of the virus was first detected at one Khorshed Miah's farm in Batiara village of the upazila Friday night. Some 500 chickens died here of the flu.
District administration has imposed a red alert in the one-kilometre radius around the affected farm.
In Chittagong, at least 5000 fowls died over the last eight days at Karnaphuli Poultry and Hatchery Farm at South Bakalia in the city, reports our correspondent.
Local officials sent samples of the dead fowl to Feni Livestock Research Centre -- which confirmed the presence of the virus -- and Bangladesh Livestock Research Centre (BLRI) from which they expect results soon.
District Livestock officials said they are waiting for a government order (GO) in this regard before they can start culling the birds. They said last night that the culling of the infected fowl would begin the moment the GO arrives.
Local officials have already made lists of the farms and poultry in the area surrounding this farm.
The farm owner meanwhile buried the dead fowls yesterday.
Meanwhile Deputy Commissioner Ashraf Shamim has sought all out cooperation from all government departments including Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) and Health Department to tackle the situation.
CCC Chief Executive Officer AKM Khairul Alam said they have already formed a 47-member vigilance team to monitor the situation in the city while a ten-member central body and 41 committees have been formed to help the livestock officials in culling the infected fowls if required.
About 5000 chickens have died suspiciously at the VIP Poultry and Hatchery at Tajhat in Rangpur town during the last seven days.
Our correspondent in Rangpur says a district livestock officer who visited the farm on Sunday advised the owner to send a sample of the dead fowl to the laboratories at Gaibandha and Savar to confirm the presence of avian flu virus. The official said that the fowls could have died of cholera, so they need the test results to confirm the infection at the farm.
An official of the livestock department, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the rate of death suggests the cause to be other than cholera as on an average 700 chickens are dying in the farm every day.
Panic has spread over the area since neighbouring residents found out the possibility of avian virus infection so close to their homes.
Bird flu virus has also spread in Jhenidah, reports our correspondent. On Sunday night around 1500 poultry were culled in three villages.
Local livestock official Dr Liakot Ali said the avian flu virus was first detected at Mizanur Rahman's poultry farm in Patbila village under Moheshpur upazila of the district.
Local officials then arranged the culling at Patbila, Baroipara and Boga villages the same night.
There have been allegations that Mizanur Rahman sold around 1500 infected fowls to locals at very low price when he first discovered that his fowls were dying.
A government official on Sunday afternoon said that the chief adviser was considering increasing the compensation for poultry farmers as more poultry are culled each day. Poultry traders have been suffering heavy losses since the detection and spread of the virus.