# 1529
The headline on newindpress.com seemed innocuous enough;
"Dead Chicken Found In Pool"
Almost not worth reading, it would seem. So What?
It isn't until you read that it is 2,000 dead, decaying chickens, that one starts to take notice. The speculation is this may be a dump job; a farmer trying to rid himself of any evidence of sick or dying birds.
And the last paragraph tells us a great deal about how things are really going in India.
More troubling is, this is Southern India. The Tamil Nadu district. Over a thousand kilometers away from the current bird flu outbreaks.
While no one knows what killed these birds (bird flu is only one possibility), nerves are running high in Tamil Nadu right now.
Dead chicken found in a pool
Thursday January 24 2008 15:01 ISTExpress News Service
PERIYAKULAM: About 2,000 dead broilers were found floating in a highly decomposed state in a pool at Vellakaradu near Devadanapatti in Theni district causing panic and the villagers fear that the birds might have died due to avian flu.
The Vellakaradu pool is located near Kamatchi Amman temple along Devadanapatti - Pullakkapatti Road.
The water in the pool is stagnant and dirty. Dead fowls were found floating in the pool and the whole area was reeking with the stench of rotten flesh.
Many people in the area do not know how the birds landed in the pool. But they suspect that the fowls may have died of bird flu.
They also feel that the poultry farm owners in the area may have disposed the birds to avoid being questioned by authorities.
The people have requested the authorities to remove these birds from the pool and clean it or refill the water.
In the meanwhile, agricultural workers are not reporting for work fearing that they may become victims of avian flu.
