Mumbai: Amidst reports that the bird flu outbreak in West Bengal may have been caused by migratory birds, the Bombay Natural History Society today said it was very difficult for infected birds to fly hundreds of miles to spread the virus and they should not be held responsible without concrete evidence.

"One forgets that H5N1 virus causing Avian Influenza among birds is very powerful and crippling. No infected bird can survive and fly hundreds of miles and spread the virus in poultry fowl," Director BNHS and Principal Investigator of Avian Influenza project, Asad Rahmani told reporters.

Only four birds were found dead in a reservoir near Aurangabad. But the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory tested the samples of these birds H5N1 negative. This is in contrast to 20,000 birds which were found dead near Kinghai lake in China, where the first case of Bird Flu was reported, Rahmani said.

BNHS is the largest non-government organisation (NGO) in the Indian sub-continent engaged in nature conservation research for past 125 years. The state administration, however, has disagreed with the findings of BNHS and is not ready to give a clean chit to migratory birds.

"Birds carrying the virus need not be found dead. They can be carriers, spread the virus and go away scot free," Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Commissioner Ashish Sharma said from Pune.

Source : PTI