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Concerns over dead birds found in Khurda Forest,
December 10, 2015 in Science

On Tuesday morning, as many as 25 peacocks and several other birds were found dead in the forest of Madhupur village in Odisha’s Khurda district by the villagers.

Meanwhile, the forest officials have issued an alert to Chilika and nearby forests fearing bird flu. After finding the birds, the villagers immediately informed the Forest officials of Khurda and Chandaka divisions, who recovered the dead birds in the area. “An expert team from OUAT will also visit the site for ground examinations”, Chandaka DFO Akshay Patnaik said.

The reason for so many mysterious deaths in large numbers within short time span is unknown yet, and officials are waiting for the autopsy report to know the exact cause of death.

Rout said they recovered 20 carcasses from the forest at a distance of seven to eight feet.

The peacocks were the resident birds with the community tolerant to their presence since years.

“Though we found no source of poisoning, water and soil samples were collected to find any possible toxic source”, said head of pathology of Veterinary College S K Panda.

No signs of external poisoning were found in the bird, also cutting of paddy crop has been completed in the surround regions that also rules out any unintentional poisoning of birds, said Akshaya Patnaik, Divisional Forest Officer for Khurda Forest Division. A number of samples were sent to National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases in Bhopal to ascertain if avian influenza was the cause of the deaths. He said that they would take necessary steps according to the report from OUAT.

Source: http://telegraphvoice.com/2015/12/10/concerns-over-dead-birds-found-in-khurda-forest/