75 chicks seized from West Bengal vendor

Kendrapada, Jan 30 (UNI) District Animal Husbandry Department officials today seized 75 chicks from a West Bengal vendor and sent samples for test to ascertain the presence of the dreaded H5N1 virus.

Kendrapada Chief District Veterinary Officer Girish Sar said Chandan Ghadei, a resident of Medinapur, had allegedly brought eight-day-old chickens to sell them at the coastal Keradagada village under Rajnagar block in the district.

During the inquiry, the vendor failed to produce all necessary documents. He has been asked to produce the documents of the details on the purchase of the chicks within the next 24 hours.

Mr Sar said if the vendor failed to provide the necessary documents, the chicks would be culled.

He said the Animal husbandry unit had taken all possible steps and precautionary measures to check the entry of poultry into the district.

Acting on a tip-off the Animal Husbandry unit seized the cicks and collected their blood samples. It later sent them to the Animal Disease Research Institute (ADRI) at Phulnakhara.

Sources said the samples would them be send to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory at Bhopal to ascertain the presence of bird flu virus.

The Orissa government has imposed prohibitory orders in four districts bordering West Bengal and Jharkhand banning import of poultry and poultry products.

The prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were clamped in Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts and would be in force for two months.

UNI XC-DP KK HS RN2104