A total of 21,000 poultry birds at Barwala culled in the first-three days of the culling exercise in Barwala-Raipur Rani region after samples of some birds in two poultry farms at Kheri and Ganauli villages in Panchkula district tested positive for the H5N8 strain of avian flu on January 8.

Talking to ‘The Pioneer’ over the phone, Haryana State Department of Animal Husbandry Joint director LC Ranga on Monday said that the team members of the District Task Force along with officials of Animal Husbandry have been working on a war footing for the last third days to complete the culling exercise of 1.66 lakh poultry birds as per the instructions of the Government of India, Ministry of Animal Husbandry. It will take at least a week or so to complete the culling of 1.66 lakh poultry birds, he added.

Ranga said that workers used to wear PPE kits before commencing the culling operation. Birds are made unconscious through a medicine that was mixed in the farm’s water tank and supplied to the birds’ enclosures. On Monday, the culling operation was carried out at Nature Poultry Farm and Siddharth Poultry Farm.

On the third day of the culling of poultry birds exercise, 7800 poultry birds were culled at Siddharth Poultry Farm in Kheri village and Nature Poultry Farm culled.

On the first day, at least 3,700 poultry birds were culled on the first day, including 1,000 birds at Siddharth Poultry Farm and 2,700 birds at Nature Poultry Farm while on Second day, 9300 poultry birds were culled.

He further said that the instructions were issued to the local residents to not roam around the affected poultry farms, in which culling operation is to be executed. The team members are not allowed to go to their homes till the completion of the culling operation. They stay at their designated quarantine centers located in Raipurrani-Barwala areas. The operation will continue until at least 1.66 lakh poultry birds are culled in the area.

Ranga further said that on Monday the officials were pressed to conduct a survey in the affected areas. More samples of the deceased birds, including their blood, food given to them and carcasses, among others, were sent to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL) in Jalandhar and indian National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases,  Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh      and reports are awaited.

The State Government on January 8 had announced compensation to the owners of the affected farms on the basis of Rs 90 per poultry bird. There are around 110 poultry farms in the Barwala belt in Panchkula. The mass mortality of poultry birds was reported in about two dozen poultry farms. The mortality among the birds has been reported since December 5, 2020.