Culling of 4,000 chickens, ducks starts in Jharkhand amid bird flu outbreak

The process to cull nearly 4,000 birds, including chickens and ducks, began in Jharkhand's Bokaro district late on Saturday evening after a bird flu outbreak was reported at a state-run poultry farm, an official said.

H5N1, a type of avian influenza virus, was confirmed among a protein-rich breed of chicken, 'Kadaknath', at the farm in the Lohanchal where 800 birds died and 103 had to be culled, he said.

"The process to cull a total of 3,856 birds, including chickens and ducks, began late this evening in the affected area -- 1 km radius of the farm," Institute of Animal Health & Production, Ranchi, director Dr Bipin Bihari Mahtha told PTI.

He said the culling will continue on Sunday as the process is time-consuming.

After birds started to die at the farm on February 2, samples were sent to the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal for testing and the flu was confirmed, he said.

A process has been started to determine the compensation for the people whose ..