Cooch Behar (WB), Jan 31: West Bengal's Cooch Behar
district was on Saturday declared bird flu-affected with authorities
directed to cull 45,000 birds, official sources said.
Blood samples sent from Nagar Bhangni and Uttar Dangkoba
villages, where a large number of chickens suddenly died
tested positive for the H5N1 virus at laboratories in Kolkata
and Bhopal, District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar Sinha said.
Sinha said culling would begin from Monday at Nagar
Bhangni village under Dinhata-II block and Uttar Dangkoba
village under Pachagarh gram panchayat in Mathabhanga
sub-division.
Thirty culling teams comprising five members each
would destroy 45,000 chickens, he said.
The border has been sealed and trading and transport
of chicken from the affected areas prohibited.
The BSF on the Indo-Bangladesh border have been
alerted to prevent birds from being smuggled out, he said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Saturday, January 31, 2009, 00:00