# 1483
Assurances earlier today by their Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, that the outbreak in West Bengal is "a limited problem", that they've taken "immediate action", and he is "confident the situation will be normalized", seem to be far more optimistic than the reports coming out of that area would indicate.
Thousands of potentially infected chickens were reportedly smuggled out of the area before the government cullers arrived, and now there are worrisome reports of other poultry deaths in other areas.
While the government had hoped to cull 100,000 chickens the first day, they reportedly only managed to cull 3,000.
This from The Times of India.
West Bengal: Culling begins, villagers smuggle out birds
17 Jan 2008, 0052 hrs IST,
RAMPURHAT/KOLKATA: The rapid response teams that descended on Birbhum on Wednesday to contain the bird flu outbreak weren't quick enough. Villagers smuggled out thousands of chickens — many of them possibly infected — to avoid having them killed. There is now a real danger of the deadly disease spreading to other parts of the state.
Already, bird flu deaths have been reported in new areas in Birbhum and even Murshidabad, which was untouched by the virus, state animal resource minister Anisur Rahman admitted on Wednesday. The bigger shock is that the flu may have moved closer to Kolkata, with hundreds of "unusual bird deaths" reported from Baruipur in South 24-Parganas, less than 25 km from Kolkata. The minister, however, denied these deaths were due to bird flu.
The culling got off to a faltering start in Rampurhat block-I and II, with villagers refusing to hand over their birds to the health department. Most eventually surrendered their poultry, but a significant number of chickens were either sold or smuggled out. The operation will extend to Nalhati Block I and II and Mayureshwar over the next couple of days.
It seems the state went to battle without a plan. The government had hoped to cull at least one lakh chickens on the first day but could manage only about 3,000. In one case, villagers gathered all their chicken and waited for health officials, but they never came.
There was little effort to educate villagers about the need for culling and nothing was done to keep them away from their poultry. Fifty-five culling teams spread across 105 villages in the two blocks, including Margram, the epicentre of the outbreak but when villagers saw the officials in masks and gloves, they panicked.
Health officials spent most of the day trying to convince people about the culling — something that panchayats were supposed to have done the day before. "It was difficult to persuade them. Finally, we warned them about the dangers of contracting avian flu and some of them relented. It led to a waste of valuable time," said a health official.
With the threat of an epidemic looming large, villagers gathered in droves to watch the culling. The health officials were the only ones wearing protective suits. Villagers handed over their poultry with their bare hands. There was no effort to drive people away from the culling sites. Experts say this could be dangerous because the disease spreads through droplets in the air.
There was tension in Margram's Baganpara when poultry owners faced off with health officials on the number of birds that were to be culled. Even as the culling continued, chicken was discreetly sold in the affected areas. Many admitted that they had not buried the eggs despite being asked to do so. Though the government has sanctioned Rs 2.5 crore as compensation, chicken farmers are unhappy with the amount being paid per bird.
