Birds found dead in Kangra's Pong, another influenza scare

Rajiv Mahajan
Nurpur, March 27

After about a month and a half, dead migratory birds were again spotted at the Pong Wetland Wildlife Sanctuary in Kangra, triggering an avian flu resurgence scare.

The wildlife authorities closed the sanctuary for visitors this afternoon and sent samples to the Regional Diseases Diagnostic Laboratory in Jalandhar for influenza testing.

Chief Wildlife Warden Archana Sharma said 14 bar-headed geese were found dead on Thursday, eight on Friday and five on Saturday. She said the field staff had disposed of the birds as per protocol. According to information, the birds were found dead in Nagrota Surian beat of the sanctuary. After their winter visit to the wetland, the exotic migratory birds had started their return journey to their breeding native grounds in Tibet, China, Nepal and Magnolia. The return-migration phase lasts till mid-April. Rahul M Rahane, Divisional Forest Officer (Wildlife), Hamirpur, said the dead birds could be those halting briefly at the Pong sanctuary during return-migration from Harike (Punjab) and Bharatpur (Rajasthan) wetlands, which could be infected with avian influenza.