Failure of Culling as a containment method

Kader (name changed) is a mother unit owner in a village which had an outbreak of Avian Flu. He used to sell chicks to poor women in his neighbourhood who would rear them for 3-5 months on low input basis as semi-scavenging birds.  He had a good system functioning in which he not only sold 2-3 week old chicks to poor women but also bought back ready birds from their door-steps.  This marketing strategy suited both parties as Muslim women do not have access to market to sell their birds and they were able to earn money despite social barriers on their access to market. Kader has a shop in the market from where customers pick ready table birds of their choice.

The bird flu outbreak caught the authorities unaware and soon more culling teams were needed to carry out culling operation as poultry population in this area is very dense. Kader was made a member of the team responsible for culling of birds in his village. This large village had a huge population of birds that had to be culled and Kader worked hard at achieving the target.  Since he is a member of culling team, one would expect his mother unit to be devoid of any chicks/birds.  To our surprise, he had around 200 twenty-three day old chicks and 700 forty-five day old chicks in his mother unit.  All the chicks were healthy and he saw no reason to cull them. He only offered few hens for culling and not the young stock.  The same logic was applied by rest of the villagers resulting in each household keeping back 30% to 40% of the flock. When we visited the village, culling was already over and the left over flocks appeared to be healthy. The villagers did not report any further mortality amongst their flocks.

The inability to comprehend the gravity of the situation and lack of understanding the bird flu are responsible for Kader’s decision of not offering his flock for culling. 

Contributed by - Coordination Team

<<Back to Topical Stories