# 743
It is a bit too soon to know the cause of this poultry die-off. But obviously the workers at the affected farm are fearing the worst.
Bird flu panic strikes Siliguri
[8 May, 2007 l 1555 hrs ISTlPTI
SILIGURI: A bird flu scare has gripped Siliguri and its adjoining areas after some 5,000 poultry birds died in a private farm here during the past four days.
The owner of the Raj Aziz Poultry Farm farm, which has over 20,000 birds and chicks, has fled, according to the police on Tuesday.
The matter came to light when people complained to the police station at Matigara about the stench from the farm, prompting Block Development Officer Sanat Mondal to rush there. Mondal found the carcasses of nearly 2,000 poultry birds.
The staff deserted the farm in a panic and only a chowkidar was found there, police said. Alarmed at the large number of dead birds, the health department rushed a team of experts to the farm to assess the situation.
Officials said the local administration was taking steps to detect the cause of the deaths. The dead birds were immediately buried on the orders of Darjeeling's District Magistrate Rajesh Pandey.
The farm at Patharghata on the outskirts of this town has the capacity to hold 20,000 birds and used to export full-grown chickens to neighbouring Bangladesh, people claimed.
Mondal said the farm's owner used to bring chicks from Malda through Bangladesh.
Pandey said the administration had taken the matter seriously and steps were underway to address the situation, adding there was no cause for panic.
Another case where the owners of a poultry farm attempted, unsuccessfully, to hide a problem. The owners, and nearly all of the workers have fled.
Tests are being conducted.
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