Bird Flu in Mumbai: 1,936 birds found dead in past 2 weeks in city

Bird Flu in Mumbai: 1,936 birds found dead in past 2 weeks in city

Pratip AcharyaUpdated: Thursday, January 21, 2021, 02:37 AM IST
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As many as 1,936 birds have been found dead in Mumbai, between January 5 and 19, since the first case of Avian Flu (Bird Flu) was reported. According to senior officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) - of the total dead bodies - 1,381 are dead crows, 396 are dead pigeons and 159 are other species of like herons and other migratory birds.

“In the past two weeks, many crows have died after getting tangled with kites, as it was a season of Makar Sankranti,” said an official of the animal husbandry department.

The official stated, these are routine deaths as many crows and pigeons die in the city regularly due to dehydration, electrocution, or after getting hit by vehicles. He also confirmed, no death of poultry bird has been reported in Mumbai so far due to bird flu and samples of the recovered dead bodies are already being sent to Bhopal and Pune for further medical assessment.

“Many people have stopped buying poultry products amid fear, however, we want to assure that there's nothing to be afraid of as poultry birds in Mumbai are still unaffected,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the Disaster Management Cell of the BMC has recorded 1,795 complaints related to bird deaths, in the past two weeks. Officials stated, they are receiving calls from all the 24 municipal wards and Mumbaikars have become overly cautious.

“Most of the calls are either from repeated callers or different complainants calling from the same location,” said a disaster cell official.

The civic body has deployed a rapid action team for carrying out inspection visits at markets and poultry shops. Since the flu outbreak, more than 6,000 birds have been culled across the state. However, officials informed, not a single bird has been culled in Mumbai.

“Culling of birds in Mumbai has not been necessary as most of the birds died in the city are either crows or pigeons,” said an official of Deonar Abbatoir.

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