Samples of dead crows in Delhi sent for testing amid bird flu scare

New Delhi, Jan 9 : With the sudden death of several crows in Delhi’s Mayur Vihar Phase III area stirring panic amid a nation-wide bird flu scare, government officials said on Saturday that their samples have been sent to Bhopal to ascertain the cause of death.
“Samples of four crows have been sent to Bhopal’s National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases,” Director of Delhi’s Animal Husbandry Department, Rakesh Singh, told IANS.
“The reports are expected to come by January 12-13 and only then we will be able to ascertain if it is bird blue,” he added.
Besides Mayur Vihar, carcasses of crows have also been found in Dwarka as well as Hastsal in west Delhi in the past few days. Further, reports of unusual mortality in ducks have also been received from Sanjay lake in east Delhi.
Samples from Hatsal have been sent to the Northen Regional Disease Laboratory in Jalandhar, while the rest have been sent to Bhopal.
In the wake of bird flu outbreak in several states, the Delhi government has banned import of live birds with immediate effect, besides setting up a 24-hour helpline and closing the Ghazipur poultry market for the next 10 days.