Health fears as chickens dumped carelessly

KATHMANDU, JUL 29 -

Local residents in Bhaktapur are on tenterhooks about a possible health hazard after poultry farmers haphazardly dumped chickens suspected to have been infected with bird flu .

On Sunday, locals hit the streets after foul smell started emanating from Nangkhel-2 where fowls were dumped. An excavator was pressed into service to bury the chickens.

Jay Benju, a native of the area, said three truckloads of dead chickens were dumped at the site on Friday night. “We are having a hard time dealing with the stench,” Benju said.

Chickens were also disposed carelessly in areas between Bhotedhikur and Nalinchowk, near the Arniko Highway. District Veterinary Chief of Bhaktapur Khagendra Bhatta said four sacks of dead chickens were recovered from the site. “This is extreme negligence, which could affect people’s health,” Bhatta said. The District Veterinary Office later dumped the chickens safely in a nearby area.

Dr Bol Raj Bhatta, chief of Kathmandu District Veterinary Office, said a nominal amount of compensation provided by the government for the slaughtered chickens prompted farmers to resort to this illegal means to avoid losses.

The government compensates Rs 130 for a chicken of more than four weeks, Rs 50 for a chick and Rs 3 for an egg.

Experts say such haphazard disposal of the dead chickens pose a serious threat to people’s health. If chickens die of bird flu , there are possibilities that the virus might get transmitted to the human body.

Symptoms of bird flu in humans are similar to that of common flu like cough, fever, headache, malaise, runny nose and sore throat, among others, according to Dr Arpana Neopane, a senior consultant physician.

The country witnessed its first avian flu outbreak in 2008 in Jhapa. Since then, major outbreaks have been reported in Pokhara, Nawalparasi and Banke.

Similar outbreaks were reported in a Dhading poultry farm on December 21 and a farm in Bode, Bhaktapur, on October 15 last year.

Likewise, in March, cases of bird flu were reported in Lalitpur farms. The first case of the flu inside the Kathmandu Valley was reported in November 2011 in the Manohara river.

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