Gorakhpur zoo: Five bird flu hit inmates recover back to health
Lucknow: The five inmates of Gorakhpur zoo — a tiger, two leopard cubs, a cockatiel, and a vulture — who tested positive for avian influenza, have recovered.
"This is very rare. All five animals who tested positive for avian influenza are back to back to health and normalcy.
This was taken note of by everyone, even the Central Zoo Authority (CZA)," said Vikas Yadav, director of Gorakhpur zoo, which is closed for more than a month now.
The animals lost appetite and movement, became weak, and got urine infections as common symptoms due to the bird flu virus.
"We got alerted as soon as the diet of any of our animals was reduced. They were administered immunity boosters," said the official. What followed was monitoring every four hours.
As per the CZA protocol, samples of 13 more animals, collected randomly, were sent to the testing laboratory, NIHSAD, in Bhopal. The decision on opening the zoo will be taken depending on the reports being negative.
The zoo was closed on May 13 for visitors.
The first death reported was of a tigress on May 7.
A total of eight of its animals tested positive for the infection, out of which three died and five were treated and declared 'negative' for the H5N1 strain.
It was the first such case of a bird flu outbreak in a zoo.
After the infection was first reported at Gorakhpur zoo, CM Yogi Adityanath held a high-level meeting on the matter and ordered the necessary precautions to be followed.
All three zoos and the lion safari in Etawah were closed for visitors on May 13, following the outbreak of the infection. While Kanpur zoo was also affected, Lucknow zoo and the lion safari had their animals safe.
Kanpur zoo is still closed, while the other two places were opened for visitors on May 29.
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