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| May 6, 2006 | Saturday | Rabi-us-Sani 7, 1427 |
Thousands of chickens in Sialkot, Kasur: Bird flu panic grips localities
SIALKOT, May 5: Thousands of chickens have died in different parts of Punjab over the last two days, creating panic among people in the localities near the affected poultry farms.
No fewer than 2,000 chickens reportedly died of avian influenza in several poultry farms in far-off Chhor and Dhouj villages in Sialkot tehsil on Friday.
The large-scale killing of hens created panic among the local people.
Earlier on Thursday, more than 1,500 hens were found dead in some poultry farms in these villages.
On the instructions of Sialkot District Nazim Muhammad Akmal Cheema, the special teams of district health department, led by EDO (Health) Dr Omar Javed, were vaccinating hens and chickens in many poultry farms. They also collected samples of blood of the hens.
The executive district officer told journalists that the samples had been sent to the Lahore laboratory for chemical examination. He said no solid evidence had so far been found to confirm the bird flu.
According to the preliminary inquiry reports, he said, these hens had died due to scorching heat.
Meanwhile, the entry of the people in and around the poultry farms has been banned as a precautionary measure.
KASUR: The news of ‘bird flu’ in some villages spread like wildfire when hundreds of hens died in some poultry farms in Kasur district.
The farm owners buried the hens immediately after the incidents.
Hundreds of hens died in Qadiwind, Matta, Kot Esa Khan and other villages and created panic among the people.
When contacted, the livestock department officials and the district coordination officer confirmed that hundreds of hens had died and their samples had been sent to laboratories in Kasur and Lahore by a special health team.
They said the laboratory reports indicated that the cause of death were diseases other than bird flu.
District Officer (Livestock) Dr Shahid Bokhari told Dawn that the hens were not vaccinated against these diseases.
DCO Hashim Tareen said rapid response teams had already been constituted in the tehsils to take stock of the situation.
The district administration, he said, was taking measures to check the diseases and the poultry farm owners would be taken to task for negligence.
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