280 Migratory Bird recovered on Tuesday ,Count mounted to 4637 in HP

Shimla:There seems no improvement in the number of Bird Flu Wildlife death in Pong Dam Wildlife Sanctuary area as number of birds are also found dead yesterday.

Chief wildlife warden Dr. Archana Sharma who is looking after the rescue operation launched by the state government stated that 280 more migratory water fowls of various species were found dead in the Pong Dam Lake wildlife sanctuary on Tuesday.

She said that now death toll of migratory birds went up to 4,637, Of the newly found carcasses, 150 were old mortalities in the Dehra wildlife beat which were retrieved  from swampy areas of thlake, Mr. Sharma said.

"The situation in the Dhameta range of thesanctuary area has improved considerably with only two birds dead birds being reported dead there on Tuesday," Ms Sharma.

The birds are believed to be dying from H5N1 avian influenza, or bird flu, which was detected in some of their samples last week.

She added that wildlife officials have requested the fisheries department to provide boats in the lake in order to retrieve the carcasses and deal with the outbreak.

 "The HP wildlife wing also attended a virtual meeting with the union ministry of environment, forests and climate change to discuss steps for the prevention of the outbreak," she said.

Besides migratory birds, Himachal has also witnessed the deaths of some crows and other birds in various parts of the state, but no infection among the domestic poultry birds has been reported so far.

However, in Solan district, a large number of dead poultry birds have been found dumped by the roadside on several days during the past week.(UNI)