Muzaffarpur: Over two dozen crows were found dead under mysterious circumstances in Litchi farms in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, an official said. The mass death of crows comes at a time when the state is already reeling under the scare of the coronavirus crisis.
The Animal Husbandry Department of Muzaffarpur suspects it could be a case of bird flu in the district. However, official confirmation is still awaited. The official said that birds generally fly in groups and may have been poisoned by food grains that had pesticides.
Crows turn up in large numbers in the Litchi farms in the morning hours. It was first spotted by Satyendra Singh, a Litchi farmer of Repura village.
"We found that the crows are falling on the ground and trembling before death. Subsequently, we have informed Kajra police station, Block development officer and animal husbandry department about the incident," Singh said.
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"Death of at least ten crows were reported from litchi farms in Muzaffarpur. The samples have been sent for testing in Patna," animal husbandry officer Sunil Ranjan Singh said.
"We have recovered the carcass and taken samples. It is too early to reach a conclusion. The actual reason will be ascertained only after the test reports," Singh said.
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Cases of bird flu were reported in January across ten states in the country. The outbreak of Avian influenza was first reported in Rajasthan and it gradually spread to Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
The state government started the culling of infected birds and shut down the poultry farms to contain the containment of the disease. States and UTs increased surveillance around water bodies, live bird markets, zoos, poultry farms, etc. along with proper disposal of the carcass, and strengthening of bio-security in poultry farms.
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With IANS inputs
