Bird flu: Animal Husbandry Department closely monitoring poultry farms in Namakkal

Tamil Nadu's Namakkal district monitors poultry farms for bird flu outbreak after Kerala's H5N1 detection, ensuring biosafety measures.

In the wake of bird flu outbreak in Kerala, the Tamil Nadu Animal Husbandry Department is closely monitoring the poultry farms in Namakkal district.

After the detection of avian influenza (H5N1) among ducks at four places in Alappuzha district on April 19, vehicles entering Tamil Nadu from Kerala are being disinfected. Over six crore eggs from more than 1,500 poultry farms in Namakkal district are transported to various parts of the State, neighbouring States including Kerala, and foreign countries every day. Following the bird flu outbreak in Kerala, poultry farms in Namakkal are on high alert.

R. Kumaravel, a poultry farm owner in Namakkal, said that while setting up the farm, adequate biosafety measures were put in place. So consumers need not panic or fear to buy eggs or chicken.

Namakkal District Joint Director of Animal Husbandry Department, C. Narayanan, said that based on District Collector S. Uma’s direction, preventive measures were being taken in the district. Veterinarians were inspecting the farms at regular intervals. Through the Poultry Disease Diagnostic and Surveillance Laboratory at Andalur Gate, samples were lifted from poultry farms. The public need not panic. Poultry farms in Namakkal have adequate biosafety measures, he said.