Officials have said that it is difficult to control the spread of bird flu in several places in all three districts of Kathmandu Valley - Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur. The Animal Services Department said that it has mobilized four teams of animal technicians on Monday and destroyed chickens and ducks in farms where bird flu (H5N1) was confirmed.

'So far, bird flu has spread in more than 50 places in the valley, this is a huge number,' said Dr. Mukul Upadhyay, senior veterinarian and head of the department's avian influenza control program and disease surveillance program, 'We are trying to control it.' According to Upadhyay, bird flu has also been seen in many small farms in the valley.

Avian influenza viruses A (H5N1), A (H9N2), A (H9N1x) etc., which are also known as bird flu viruses. This is a very deadly virus, which mainly affects domestic chickens and ducks. The department said that the outbreak that started in eastern Nepal in Falgun has now spread to various places in all three districts, including the Sadar Zoo in the valley. Dozens of birds, including rare vultures, shrike, swans, and storks, have died from the infection. The administration has closed the zoo indefinitely since Friday after the virus was confirmed in some animals, including wild cats and civets. The zoo, which used to attract four to five thousand visitors on holidays, used to receive about two thousand visitors on other days. According to officials, this is the first time that the disease has spread on such a large scale in the Sadar Zoo. 'We are not in a position to say when the zoo will open,' said zoo spokesperson Ganesh Koirala. 'We are closely monitoring the situation and are taking measures to prevent the infection from spreading further.'

Bird flu in Jawalakhel zoo animals, closed indefinitely

Officials suspect that the infection spread from crows and other wild birds entering the zoo. Officials of the Animal Services Department suspect that the bird flu spread in the zoo due to negligence in biosecurity. There were allegations that the officials tried to hide the incident even after dozens of wild birds died. 'The zoo officials made the incident public only after many birds started dying at once,' an official of the department said, 'Laboratory tests have confirmed the virus. Detailed details will come only after the investigation team formed by the government submits its report.'

The government usually destroys all birds, bird products and feed in the affected farms, seals the place and restricts movement for 42 days. In the case of other wild birds or animals, the rules are not applied and they are not killed like in chickens, officials say. So far, more than 600,000 chickens from farms where the infection was confirmed have been destroyed. Similarly, millions of eggs and a large amount of chicken feed have been destroyed.

Bird flu spreading in Kathmandu Valley, infection also seen in local chickens

According to department officials, outbreak reports have been received from at least 10 districts of the country so far. The infection in Koshi Province was caused by the A (H9N2) virus. Which caused huge economic losses to the poultry industry, while the virus seen in Kathmandu Valley is A (H5N1). According to them, bird flu infection has spread to most local chickens in the valley. According to the protocol for bird flu control, after destroying the chickens, eggs, feed and chicken droppings of the infected farm, human movement should be stopped for 423 days. But the current outbreak is in densely populated areas. Neither disinfection has been done properly nor has the movement of people been stopped.