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CPDO comes to 3-m standstill as Rapid Response Teams cull poultry birds
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Saturday, 03 November, 2012, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru
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fiogf49gjkf0d The Central Poultry Development Organisation and Training Institute (CPDO) seems to have come to a standstill as the Rapid Response Teams are culling entire poultry birds.
Following the avian or bird flu or H5N1 which affected the poultry birds at the 90 acre campus of CPDO located on the outskirts of Bengaluru, the Union government sent in Rapid Response Teams to dispose off the birds. The culling operation was carried out as per the Union Government Action Plan as part of the containment and eradication of H5N1 virus infected dead birds.
The Rapid Response Teams have culled 13,342 ducks, 369 emus and one ostrich. All the birds are disposed off as per Government of India Action Plan to contain and eradicate H5N1 virus. There has been no human fatality reported so far or no news of poultry birds outside the campus or anywhere in Karnataka affected by the avian flu has come in.
“We have culled all the birds and the next process is to sanitise the place,” said Arvind Jannu, principal secretary, department of animal husbandry.
To date, around 19,235 chicken and 11,939 eggs have been destroyed. The culling operations did not come to a standstill even when Bengaluru came under the fury of the North-East monsoon driven by the Nilam cyclone as rains lashed the city, he added.
“All the culled birds are buried 15 to 20 feet below the surface and as it decompose, and the volume of the mound decreases, efforts are made to immediately fill it again with more chemicals and lime to ensure that the infection does not spread,” said an official at CPDO.
Extensive precautionary measures are taken to prevent the spread of avian flu to other areas, according to the principal secretary of the Karnataka animal husbandry department.
CPDO has also taken up surveillance in a 10-km radius of the CPDO premises by collecting 119 serum samples and an equal number of cloacal samples. The samples have been sent to the Regional Research Laboratory (RRL) at Bhopal for investigation.
Minister for animal husbandry and veterinary services Revu Naik Belamagi, told FnB News that control rooms were opened to monitor the spread of the H5N1 and 25 Rapid Response Teams were pressed into action for culling the birds.
According to M Madan Gopal, principal secretary, department of health and family welfare, the avian flu made its presence, is not in control. There is a panel of doctors conducting daily medical checks of those who are involved in the culling operations.
The institute was established in the 1960s as Central Poultry Breeding Farm with the primary objective of development and multiplication of high producing layer stocks, broiler stocks and turkey stocks. It was extended to cover ducks in the early 90s with technical collaboration from the Government of UK. This was to introduce high-yielding variety of ducks for the farming community. It was with the extension of poultry to quails and emus that the institute got emu farm and an ostrich brought in to breed. In addition, the institute was known for the best quality of breeding poultry birds.
The entire institute bears a sombre look and for any activity to take off, it would take a minimum of three months for us to resume operations in full swing, according to an official at the CPDO.
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