Vulture death not due to bird flu officials

Gangtok, Mar 13 (UNI) Officials of the state Forest, Health and the Animal Husbandry department heaved a sigh of relief after the experts ruled out bird flu as the cause of the recent mass death of vultures in Yambung valley in West Sikkim.

The High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in a message to the State Forest Department said the deaths of the vultures were not due to avian influenza.

Around 33 vultures were found dead in the Yambung valley located about 1000 feet above the sea level in between January and February.

The death of the birds that concided with the reports death of hundreds of chicken in the country and abroad due to bird flu put the officials on their toe.

The government immediately sent the carcasses of the dead birds to Bhopal for laboratory test and banned the import of chicken and chicken products as a preventive measure.

However, the laboratory did not specify the cause of the death of the birds.

Senior Wildlife Research Officer Usha Lanchungpa said the forest department was in touch with the Laboratory in Bhopal and had sent an expert team to the valley to find out the cause of the death.

The team would co-ordinate with the Joint Forest Management Committee officials and the local NGOs to find out the exact cause of the death of the birds, she said.

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