A recent report has revealed that the veterinary team has started culling operations in and around a State poultry farm in West Bengal’s Malda region.

More than 800 fowls had died over the last few days with the highly pathogenic bird flu virus in the district.

In the eastern state, poultry sales went down by around 70% since the bird flu hit in January, officials stated.

Despite efforts of the animal resource development (ARD) to stem the root, poultry deaths continue unabated in Malda region

Bird flu attacked Malda for the second time during the same month.

The report confirmed that the blood samples sent to the High Security Animal Disease laboratory were infected with the highly pathogenic bird flu virus.

An official in the district’s animal resources development department told that chickens or fowls from the farm within a radius of 3 kms would be put to death in culling operations that would continue for three days.

The department has set a culling target of 44,000. The sale of poultry products in the affected Block has already been prohibited.

The official also said that the regions falling within a radius of 10 km from the farm would be under close observation.

The veterinary group has already finished the culling operations involving around 50,000 poultry birds in Murshidabad district areas that have been affected by avian flu.

An outburst of the virus was reported in neighboring Murshidabad district earlier this month, the fifth in India since 2006.

Officials say the virus could have originated from neighboring Bangladesh which is struggling to contain a massive outbreak.