Maharashtra Animal Husbandry Department officials have confirmed that the culling operations in Jalgoan where a fresh outbreak of bird flu was reported will end on Monday. Dr B K Wankhade, Regional District Commissioner, Animal Husbandry said that the operations had begun on March 29 after the fresh outbreak was reported
500 health workers in 82 teams were involved in the operations. Wankhade said that poultry owners had been compensated to the tune of Rs 1 lakh as a result of the culling operations. "For birds below 10 weeks of age, compensation of Rs 10 per bird was given. While for birds above 10 weeks it was Rs 40 per bird, for broiler it was Rs 30 per bird," he said. Bird flu has taken a turn for the worse in 2006 and has spread like wildfire across Europe and Africa. In India, the cases have so far been confined to Maharashtra and no human deaths have been reported so far.
