Bird Flu alert at Bhitarkanika National Park

Kendrapada, Nov 4 : The Wildlife officials have alerted the inhabitants residing close to the Bhitarkanika National park to take precautionary measures from Bird Flu.

With the onset of winter feathered guests have started arriving in Bhitarkanika and suspecting that they might have carried H5N1 virus with them such alert has been sounded, Divisional Forest Officer Rajnagar Mangrove Forest and wildlife Division P K Behera said.

According to the DFO, the Chief District Veterinary Officer (CDVO) of Kendrapara would visit the National Park shortly to conduct sample tests of the winter avian guests to ascertain whether these migratory birds were affected with the virus.

Mr Behera said so far none of the winged guests have been found infected with Bird flu virus. The forest officials, he said, have been keeping a close watch on the activities of the winged visitors and urged the locals to take adequate precaution in this regard.

The avian species like Bar Headed Goose, Brahmin Duke and other species, which are wild, are more vulnerable to carry the Flu virus as they come form Northern Hemisphere Siberia, Middle East Asia and on the way these species cross China, Ladakh, Manasarobar Lake and Tibet to arrive in Bhitarkanika.

These bird species prefer to come to the waterbodies of Chilika and Bhitarkanika National Park during winter in large numbers, mainly to Raitapatia, Chataka ,Satabhaya, Praharajpur diha and Durgaprasadpurdiha of Bhitarkanika National Park, wildlife officials said.

'' We have sounded warning to the inhabitants asking them to bring to our notice if they find different behaviour in any migratory bird or their poultry. The ducks and chickens are more vulnerable to bring the virus to the human settlement,'' the DFO said.

Last year, the officials had collected blood and stool samples of about 300 avian species and sent them to Animal Disease Research Institute (ADRI), Bhubaneswar and High Security Animal Disease Laboratory (HSADL) in Bhopal.

In both the cases the scientists did not find any flu virus in the samples, Mr Behera said.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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