Chicken sale drops in Kashmir despite no bird flu case

Srinagar, Feb 10 (UNI) Even though there was no report of any bird flu case from any part of the Kashmir valley, the sale of chicken has come down by 35 per cent.

There is enough chicken stock in the valley, which remained cut off from the rest of the country for six days due to snowfall and landslides, poultry dealers said.

They said though there was no report of any bird flu case, the sale had come down by 35 to 40 per cent in the valley.

Normally people were consuming about 30, 000 birds per day.

However, the number goes up during marriage and festival seasons.

With the decline, import of birds from Northern states, including Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, has also come down, they said.

Official sources said samples of two migratory birds found dead in a wetland near the border in Jammu tested negative in a Bhopal laboratory.

The authorities have already taken adequate measures to prevent transportation of any such virus into the state.

They said there was no question of bird flu virus reaching to the state from West Bengal. There are several states in between which are still safe, they added.

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