Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 9:
Special teams from the veterinary, forest department and OUAT will conduct a through fieldĀ investigation in Madhupur forest area were 20 peacocks, a crow and a heron were found dead yesterday from Khurda district, Odisha.
The veterinary, forest department team is already on the location while four more teams from Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) belonging to medicine, pathology, poultry and bio-chemistry will join them soon.
In another development, Khurda forest department officials will leave for Animal Disease Research Institute (ADRI) of State Veterinary Department and National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSD), Bhopal today with the swab samples of the deceased birds to find out the real reason for the deaths.
After the forest officials, yesterday got the report of the multiple avian deaths; they had reached the spot and sent the carcasses to OUAT (Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology) for post-mortem.
Khurda Ranger Dillip Kumar Rout had said that a joint team of Chandaka and Khurda range officials were doing a field investigation in the forest to see if there have any other deaths of other birds or animals inside the forest. He, had however, ruled out the poisoning angle.
According to locals, about four to five hundred peacocks live in that forest and this is an unprecedented incident. Many peacocks were seen roaming around which might result in further spread of the disease, if there is any contagious one.