Culling of Omega's 1,49453 chickens completed

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PANDEMIC PRECAUTION : IFC and BRAC jointly organised an awareness-increasing programme for the poultry-sellers and buyers at Tejgaon wholesale market in the city Monday with an eye to preventing the spread of ongoing bird-flu. — FocusBangla photo

Culling of some 1,49453 chickens of H5N1 virus-hit Omega poultry farm in the city's Badda area completed Monday morning, reports UNB.
The government took the decision to annihilate the largest ever number of chickens Friday night after detection of the deadly avian influenza virus in the Omega Poultry Farm Limited that had 0.165 million chickens.
According to officials at the Bird Flu Control Room in Dhaka, 1,49453 chickens of the farm were culled during the three-day drive while the remaining 12,480 died after being affected by the H5N1 virus.
They said the culling started Saturday evening and completed at about 10am Monday.
After the sudden death of some chickens at the poultry farm, its staff sent some samples of the dead chickens Wednesday to Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute for test where the presence of deadly H5N1 virus was detected Thursday.
Later, Friday night, the government issued orders for culling all the chickens of the farm.
According to the government count, some 8,35,806 chickens of 231 commercial farms and 40 household farms in 43 districts have so far been culled since detection of the avian influenza virus in the country February 22 last year.
So far, the government has provided around Tk 20 million to the affected farm owners in compensation.
Another report adds: About 2,000 chicken traders will be imparted training on checking bird flu and other diseases to ensure bio-security in the city's poultry markets.
Chief Adviser's Special Assistant Manik Lal Samaddar inaugurated the training programme at Tejgaon chicken market in the city Monday.
Under the programme, all the poultry traders will be given training in phases. The chicken traders will be provided with protective gears, including hand-gloves, and bleaching powder, disinfectants and sprays for ensuring bio-security, said a handout.