Nepal is battling a surge in bird flu cases, prompting authorities to cull more than 596,000 poultry and close the country’s only zoo, agriculture ministry officials said on Tuesday.
The Himalayan nation has experienced bird flu outbreaks in previous years, but the first cases of this year were detected on 18 March.
Since then, government livestock officials have overseen the mass culling of chickens and other domestic birds. More than one million eggs have also been destroyed in an effort to contain the outbreak.
Umesh Dahal, Director General of the Department of Livestock Services, said infections have been confirmed in 11 districts, including three in the Kathmandu Valley, where the outbreak has been most severe.
He said authorities suspect crows are spreading the virus.
“We are concerned because crows have been found dead after contracting the infection,” Dahal said. “Controlling their movement is extremely difficult because they live in the wild.”
Nepal recorded its first outbreak of bird flu in January 2009.
The H5 strain has caused severe disease and high mortality among poultry and wild birds worldwide. No human deaths linked to bird flu have been reported in Nepal.
Authorities closed the zoo in the capital, Kathmandu, earlier this month for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Zoo spokesperson Ganesh Koirala told AFP that several birds and animals had contracted the virus. He said civet cats, along with birds including owls, vultures and pigeons, had died.
“The zoo has been closed indefinitely until the virus is brought under control,” he said.
