A senior official on Saturday confirmed about the death of as many as 900 hens in the span of two days in Maharashtra’s Parbhani district. The Parbhani district collector Deepak Mulgikar informed regarding the samples being sent for investigation to identify the exact cause.
“900 hens have died in two consecutive days in Murumba village in the Marathwada region. We have taken the samples of the deceased birds for investigation. The poultry farm where the death of birds was reported is run by a Self Help Group (SHG). This poultry farm has some 8,000 birds. 900 birds have died over two days. No death of birds was reported in the last 24 hours,” he said.
The collector added by saying that the death of hens could be related to nutrition and the test results are awaited.
Maharashtra has so far not reported any cases of bird flu or avian influenza. On January 8, the Centre confirmed on the cases of bird flu in six states so far- Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat.
In 2006, H5N1 virus outbreak was reported in Nandurbar and Dhule districts in north Maharashtra, which had affected thousands of birds.
