Saturday, April 08, 2006
Bird flu infected chicks being smuggled in India.
Please note: Chicks are baby chickens.....
Indian authorities are on the lookout for chicks being smuggled across the country’s borders, that are infected with the bird flu virus.
Police, poultry farm owners and the Animal Resource Department have disposed of more then 6,500 chicks in the towns/cities of Paba, Durgapur, Rajshahi and in Natore Sadar recently.
Authorities are also stating that at least 1,750 chicks infected with the bird flu virus have been secretly sold to unspecified customers by some dishonest poultry farm owners in Durgapur.
The police recently seized 2,000 infected chicks, that were smuggled in from India, from a Mr. Shahadat Hosain in the Shalgharia village and turned them over to the local office of the Department of Animal Resources.
Local Police involved in seizing the 2000 chicks, said they dumped a sack with the 2000 chicks into a hole and buried them. But local villagers are saying of the 2,000 chicks seized from Shahdat, only 250 were actually disposed of.
Abdur Rashid, an employee at the Animal Resource Division office in Durgapur, said out of 2,000 of affected chicks, Shahdat managed to sell 600 chicks to a Mr. Maik of the same village and 400 chicks to a Mr. Harun of Pachubari village with the help of the police.
As of the writing of this story, the whereabouts of the rest of the chicks are not known.