Balasore: Fears of a bird flu outbreak gripped the residents of Soro area in Odisha’s Balasore district after hundreds of dead chickens were found dumped along the national highway here.
While there is no confirmation about the cause of mass poultry deaths, the incident has triggered panic among the local residents. Reports said that the locals of the area have reportedly stopped buying broilers fearing affliction of the H5N1 virus.
The situation also led to a sharp drop in the price of the chicken in the local market. According to sources, chicken are presently sold at Rs 50 in the market instead of regular price of Rs 150 to 160.
Meanwhile, the veterinary department has started inspection to find out the root cause of deaths of the chicken and advised people not to get panicked.
Veterinarian Buddhiram Roul said, “Sometimes chicken die while being transported from one place to another place and the transporter usually dump them along road. But since the exact reason behind the incident in Soro is still not clear, I will visit the spot and confirm if such thing happened in this case.”
“We will collect the sample from the spot today and send them to laboratory for testing. If the samples are tested positive for H5N1 virus, we will inform the higher authorities and a scientific team will visit the spot,” he added.
Notably, bird flu was confirmed in a poultry farm of Odisha University of Agriculture Technology (OUAT) last month following which the State government culled thousands of chicken in areas within one km radius of OUAT campus.