Thursday, March 16 2006 15:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Pune: District authorities have alerted poultry owners in and around Pune and advised them not to shift their chicken following death of 390 birds in a poultry farm at Indori, 30 km from here (Pune), during the past two days.

Samples of the dead birds have been sent to Pune laboratory to ascertain whether the poultry deaths were due to avian flu, Taluka (block) Veterinary Officer Vivek Barve told sources today (Mar 16 2006).

In view of bird flu incidence in Navapur and Jalgaon, the poultry owners in Pune have been strictly advised not to send birds outside or bring any new stock, he said.

The same poultry has reported that another 300 birds are also ailing, but it was not immediately known what they are suffering from.

A report from Nasik said some chickens were found dead in the Makhamalabad locality and the samples were sent to Pune for test, District Animal Husbandry Officer B D Rajput told sources today.

A veterinary department squad visited the locality in the morning.

He claimed "there were no cases of bird flu in Nasik but following a report that birds were found dead, our squad rushed to the spot to take action. We have buried the dead birds after collecting samples."

"We are sending talathi (village level official), gram-sevaks and veterinary workers to the nearby areas to find out whether there are any other poultry deaths," Rajput said.

A meeting of concerned officials has been called today to discuss the issue.