Phuentsholing, South Bhutan (Kuensel/ANN) - It took a team comprising an ornithologist, veterinarians and lab technicians two hours to collect and study two wild bird species fecal to confirm they were H5N1 negative.
An ornithologist from the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute of Forest and Environment, veterinarians from the livestock department and lab technicians from the satellite veterinary laboratory in Phuentsholing yesterday collected fecal samples of House Crow and White Wagtail along the banks of Amochhu river.
Veterinary Dr Chendu Dorji said the results will be further sent to the National Centre for Animal Health in Serbithang, Thimphu for further confirmation.
The investigation was conducted following the death of crows in Phuentsholing on January 19 after the report showed, it contained H5 influenza "A" but proved negative of N1 influenza.
The team also tried to look for any sick or dead wild birds but to no avail.
The members of the team bent for a closer look at every fecal they came across while walking along the bank of Amochhu.
"The big sized fecal is that of the house crow's and the small-sized ones of the white wagtail bird's," the ornithologist said.
Dr Chendu Dorji said they cannot rule out the bird flu virus that was identified on January 19 are birds breeding in Bhutan.
"It's possible they could have migrated from the border towns," he said. "Birds migrate from one place to another and it's difficult to find the source of infection."
He also said not every wild birds died from the virus or H5N1.
"They also die from pollution, toxic containment food they feed on or mineral deficiency," he explained.
"We'll collect more samples and continue conducting the tests," Dr Chendu Dorji said. "If 75 percent of the test results show positive the bird flu will be confirmed."
The investigation team, so far, identified 16 wild birds in Phuentsholing dungkhag, 10 along the bank of Amochhu and six from Wangdigatshel village under Phuentsholing gewog.
The ornithologist said most common wild birds found in the vicinity were House crow, Black Kite, Indian Pond Heroine, White Wagtail and Cattle Egret.
The ornithologist said birds can be identified from their appearance and with each wearing its distinctive colours, identifying them was easy.
"Juvenile birds have different shades from the adult ones," he said.
The team will continue with their investigation within Phuentsholing town today before they move on to the high-risk villages tomorrow.
Meanwhile, seven poultry birds were reported dead in Wangdigatshel village, about 15km from Phuentsholing.
Frantic with worry, a farmer reported that one of his adult birds had died in the morning and was immediately disposed off in a pit.
The poultry bird tested negative.
Six poultry birds from another farmer could not be tested because he had packed them into a sack and thrown them down a road in a scantily-treed forest.
But when the team went to retrieve it, the sack was found empty.
"The farmer reported poultries died three days ago," Dr Chendu said. "This shows there is lack of awareness about bird flu."
He said villagers in the area, like those in other parts of Phuentsholing were educated about having to burying dead birds following any suspecious death lest other birds of prey and animals feed on them.
COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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