In a quick response to the outbreak of bird flu, the Government Turkey Farm at Kureeppuzha, said to be the largest in South Asia when it housed over 8000 turkey birds until two days before, has been closed after all the birds were culled.

“The culling was carried out quickly by the Animal Husbandry Department and Health officials soon after it was confirmed by the High Security Animal Diseases Laboratroy at Bhopal that the 400 birds that had died late last week in the farm after being afflicted with the deadly avian influenza strain H5N1,” Dr. B. Aravind, assistant director of AHD, told Business Line. The experience of last November’s culling of more than three lakh ducks in the Kuttanad region, hit by the bird flu, came in handy for the authorities.

He said all the chicken and ducks within a 1-km radius of the farm were being culled too in order to prevent the spread of the virus to other birds or animals. Owners of poultry in the nearby areas have been asked to bring the culled birds to the farm for being buried. The culled their chicken and ducks would get ₹ 200 each as compensation from the government.

Dr. Aravind said the virus would not normally attack humans, but if it mutated, it could prove to be harmful. Sale of poultry meet and eggs was being banned in a 10-km radius of the farm. Import and export of poultry from Kollam district would be banned to check the spread of the virus to other areas.

The farm has been closed for three months as a preventive step because all the turkeys were buried within the four-acre farm. Dr. Aravind said that a Government of India protocol insisted that culled birds should be burnt en masse, the farm authorities had been forced to bury the birds due to local residents’ opposition. The nauseating smell of the burning turkeys had offended the locals who had taken out a protest rally to the farm.

Of the more than 8000 turkeys raised at the flourishing farm, 6000-odd were culled while the other had died of the disease. Last week, the first batch of 400-odd birds, kept in a single enclosure had died, following which samples were sent to the Bhapal lab.

Dr. Ashok said the farm would reopen after the three-month shutdown and would be `re-populated.’ Though turkey meat and eggs had previously not been very popular in Kerala, the demand has been picking up in the recent times. The lean meat of turkey is said to be good for health as it would not add to cholesterol.

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