Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
<TR><TD class=ld> Bird Flu panic in Siliguri, 5,000 chickens dead </TD></TR><TR><TD height="15"></TD></TR><TR><TD class=kicker>
Siliguri, May 8:A Bird Flu scare has gripped this town and its adjoining areas after some 5,000 poultry birds died in a private farm here during the past four days.
The owner of the Raj Aziz poultry farm , which has over 20,000 birds and chicks, has fled, police said today.
The matter came to light today when people complained to the police station at Matigara near here about the stench from the farm, prompting Block Development Officer Sanat Mondal to rush there. Mondal found the carcasses of nearly 2,000 poultry birds.
The staff deserted the farm in panic and only a chowkidar was found there, police said.
Alarmed at the large-scale death of birds, the Health Department rushed a team of experts to the farm to assess the situation.
Officials said the local administration was taking steps to detect the cause of the deaths. The dead birds were immediately buried on the orders of Darjeeling's District Magistrate Rajesh Pandey.
The farm at Patharghata on the outskirts of this town has the capacity to hold 20,000 birds and used to export full- grown chickens to neighbouring Bangladesh, people claimed.
Mondal said the farm's owner used to bring chicks from Malda through Bangladesh.
Pandey said the administration had taken the matter seriously and steps were underway to address the situation, adding there was no cause for panic
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=370226&sid=NAT
</TD></TR>
Siliguri, May 8:A Bird Flu scare has gripped this town and its adjoining areas after some 5,000 poultry birds died in a private farm here during the past four days.
The owner of the Raj Aziz poultry farm , which has over 20,000 birds and chicks, has fled, police said today.
The matter came to light today when people complained to the police station at Matigara near here about the stench from the farm, prompting Block Development Officer Sanat Mondal to rush there. Mondal found the carcasses of nearly 2,000 poultry birds.
The staff deserted the farm in panic and only a chowkidar was found there, police said.
Alarmed at the large-scale death of birds, the Health Department rushed a team of experts to the farm to assess the situation.
Officials said the local administration was taking steps to detect the cause of the deaths. The dead birds were immediately buried on the orders of Darjeeling's District Magistrate Rajesh Pandey.
The farm at Patharghata on the outskirts of this town has the capacity to hold 20,000 birds and used to export full- grown chickens to neighbouring Bangladesh, people claimed.
Mondal said the farm's owner used to bring chicks from Malda through Bangladesh.
Pandey said the administration had taken the matter seriously and steps were underway to address the situation, adding there was no cause for panic
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=370226&sid=NAT
</TD></TR>