The carcasses of 381 more migratory birds were found on Thursday at Pong wetland in Himachal’s Kangra district pushing the death toll of birds to 3409 due to avian influenza- H5N1.

With the outbreak of bird flu at Pong wetland, a team of experts from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun visited the area to assess the situation while a control room has been set up at Nagrota Surain to oversee the entire operations to control the outbreak.

“Till Thursday afternoon, carcasses of 381 migratory birds were found and the counting of carcasses was still on at the Pong wetland.  A total of 3409 migratory birds have died till now due to bird flu,” said a senior official of the Wildlife wing of Forest Department, Himachal while talking to The Pioneer.

The fatality in migratory birds has increased in the last two days. On an average, death of more than 300 migratory birds is being reported at the Pong wetland every day now, the official said.

As per the protocol, the carcasses are collected by the field staff wearing a PPE kit. These carcasses are then burnt and the remnants are buried in a deep pit to contain the spread of bird flu, the official said.

He said that the State Government is following the advisory of the Central Government and all the field functionaries have been asked to maintain strict vigil and surveillance.

It was on January 4 when the deadly avian influenza- H5N1 was confirmed by National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHASAD), Bhopal in five migratory birds, whose carcasses were found in Pong wetland.

Meanwhile, a team of experts from Wildlife Institute of India visited the Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary to assess the situation and gave suggestions for control and containment of the outbreak.

The State Government has also deputed PCCF Wildlife, HP at the site to take measures to control the situation and DFO Wildlife Hamirpur is monitoring the daily operations at the site.

The forest official said that ten rapid response teams are currently working in nine beats of the Pong sanctuary area for the collection and safe disposal of dead birds. Apart from this, 55 persons have been deployed for daily surveillance operations in the area.

He said that a control room has been established at Nagrota Surain to oversee the entire operations besides receiving and disseminating all the information regarding the outbreak of bird flu.

Notably, the Pong wetland, about 100 kms from Dharamshala, is a well-known wildlife sanctuary and one of the international wetland sites declared in India by the Ramsar Convention.

Around 60000 migratory birds have reached the wetland during this winter and till now, maximum fatalities have been seen among Bar-Headed Goose. There have also been reports of deaths of crows, pigeons and vultures in different parts of the state.

The humans can also get infected by H5N1 only upon close interaction with infected live or dead birds, or H5N1-contaminated environments. If infected, humans tend to fall severely ill and also require hospitalisation.

Oseltamivir, an antiviral medicine is used widely to prevent severity of the virus and death.

THREE MORE DEAD BIRDS FOUND IN CHANDIGARH

Carcasses of three more birds were found in the union territory of Chandigarh till Thursday evening amid the outbreak of bird flu in several states across the country.

A day before, four birds were found dead at the regulator end of Sukhna Lake while a carcass of Common Coot was found on Tuesday evening.

A carcass of Peacock was fund at Sukhna Lake while one dead crow each was found in Sector 36 and Leisure Valley here till the evening, said Debendra Dalai, UT Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Wildlife Warden while talking to The Pioneer.

The samples have been sent to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL), Jalandhar for testing, he said.

Commenting on the possibility of an outbreak of bird flu in Chandigarh, Dalai said that samples of five birds that had died earlier were sent to RDDL and we are likely to receive the report by Friday. These deaths are isolated cases and do not seem to be an outbreak of the bird flu.

However, field staff and visitors to Sukhna Lake and Wildlife Sanctuary have been asked to be more vigilant. The Lake and Sanctuary area would remain open for the visitors, he added.

Earlier, it was in the year 2014 when bird flu was detected in ducks at Sukhna Lake and over 90 ducks were culled to prevent the spread of avian influenza, H5N1 in the city.

During this winter season, more than 1000 migratory birds have reached water bodies in Chandigarh.