Bangladesh News

Livestock officials culled about 31,100 poultry and domestic fowls and destroyed over 60,000 eggs at poultry farms in Dinajpur, Sylhet and Manikganj since Thursday night as the farms were detected with avian influenza virus infection.

District livestock officials culled at least 28,000 fowls and destroyed 60,436 eggs at farms in Dinajpur as Joypurhat and Savar livestock research institutes detected infection of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, in samples they had sent.

The district officials sent dead fowls from Palli Poultry Farm in Uttar Gobindapur village for test following death of around 100 birds at the farm on January 29, reports our correspondent in Dinajpur.

The domestic birds culled in the district include 27,705 chickens, 37 ducks and five pigeons. The eggs destroyed were collected from residences in the infected area.

Earlier on January 25 and 26, district livestock officials and district administrative officials culled at least 6,020 fowls after detecting bird flu in and around the district town.

A total of 45,128 fowls have so far been culled in Dinajpur since detection of the virus in early March last year.

Our correspondent in Sylhet reports: About 1,250 chickens were culled at Hetimganj Bazar and Golapganj upazila on Thursday night as tests confirmed infection of avian influenza virus in the samples sent to Dhaka by district livestock officials.

Sources said the officials sent the samples from Hannan Poultry Farm at Hetimganj to the capital on Wednesday for test. They along with the upazila nirbahi officer culled the farm’s chickens at 10:00pm Thursday.

They also culled chickens in poultry shops and houses within one kilometre of the farm.

Our Manikganj correspondent reports: Officials culled 1,848 poultry birds–1,756 chickens, 46 ducks and 46 pigeons–at three farms in Poyla village of Ghior on Thursday night.