Panic gripped the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir after over 100 birds were found dead in Udhampur, Rajouri and Billawar in Kathua district during past 24 hours while the Government today banned the import of poultry birds to J&K amidst bird flu scare.
Official sources told the Excelsior that about 100 crows were found dead near Kendriya Vidyalaya, on Dhar Road Udhampur this morning. Some children spotted dead crows and informed nearby people. Then the locals contacted Police and Wildlife Protection Department.
Deputy Commissioner, Udhampur Dr Piyush Singla then deputed joint team of Animal Husbandry Department and Wildlife Protection to the site. They lifted samples and disposed off the dead crows by burning at an isolated place, taking all the precautions.
Another case was reported from Phinter in Billawar (Kathua), where three dead crows were found last evening. Taking cognizance of the issue, the teams taking all precautions, also disposed off the dead birds.
Yet another case was reported from Panj Peer area, near BSF camp in Rajouri about some dead birds. The team on the direction of DC Rajouri, Nazir Ahmed Sheikh reached the site and collected samples and returned after disposal of the birds’ bodies.
The locals of the area told the visiting team that for the last about one week they have spotted several birds lying dead and mostly they were crows. They further revealed that they have spotted more than dozen such birds in the same area so far.
Chief Wildlife Warden, J&K, Suresh Kumar Gupta when contacted said that Udhampur incident is worrying. ” Our joint team has lifted samples from there and same will be sent to Jallandhar Lab of Animal Husbandry department. All the dead birds were burnt taking all the precautions. But so far, there is no reported case of confirmed bird flu in the J&K UT,” Gupta said.
He further disclosed that two more cases from Billawar and Rajouri have been reported. The samples were collected from there also. He said that he and Director Animal Husbandry Jammu, Vivek Sharma took review of over all scenario today. “Joint teams of Wildlife and Animal Husbandry Departments have been constituted in all the districts. Both the departments are closely monitoring the situation,” Gupta maintained.
When asked about the outcome of 20 samples of birds droppings lifted from Gharana Wetland in Suchetgarh, Gupta said the report has not been received from Jallandhar Lab so far. He said no such report from any wetland of Kashmir like Dal, Wullar, Tsokar etc has been reported.
Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Government today banned import of poultry as bird flu spreads in neighouring States.
In the wake of spread of bird flu in neighbouring States of J&K as a measure of abundant precaution and in view of declaration of whole J&K as ‘Controlled Area’ for bird flu disease, Government of J&K UT J&K imposes complete ban on import of live birds including poultry and unprocessed poultry meet for any purpose into the Union Territory of J&K with immediate effect, till January 14, 2021,” the Government order said.
“The decision will be reviewed based on the evolving situation,” the order issued by Navin K Choudhary, Principal Secretary to Government added.
It is pertinent to mention here that on January 5, after the neighbouring State Himachal Pradesh besides Rajasthan and Kerala reported some cases of bird flu, the Jammu and Kashmir Administration also sounded alert and started closely monitoring situation in Kashmir and Jammu regions by constituting teams of Wildlife Protection and Animal Husbandry departments.
The teams visited several wetlands in Kashmir and Jammu regions to monitor the situation and collect samples of birds droppings. The same have been sent for tests in the Labs by the teams.
Gharana Wetland Conservation Reserve in RS Pura sector near the International Border was notified in 1981 and is home to more than 170 species of birds like bar-headed geese, gadwalls, common teals, purple swamp hens, Indian moor hens, black-winged stilts, cormorants, egrets and green shanks. During winters, the wetland is visited by many birds from Central Asia and some of the migratory bird species visiting this wetland are endangered.
“The teams of Animal Husbandry Department collected the bird dropping samples for testing. There is no need for alarm as this is being done just as a precautionary measure in view of reported cases in HP, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to keep the wetlands safe and check the spread of the H5N8 virus,” another official from Animal Husbandary Deptt said.