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Alarm over crane deaths in Mannar
By Nadia Fazlulhaq
There was a bird-flu scare in Mannar town after four cranes, two dead and two sick, were found in the premises of the Government Agent’s bungalow last week.

Mannar Government Agent V.Visuvalingam told The Sunday Times that no more dead birds were reported after the incident in the area. “The four cranes had been on a tree and later two of them were found dead and the other two looked sick and were almost dead under the tree. We are daily searching the area, to check whether there are any suspicious deaths of birds but luckily we did not find any,” he said.

“We believe the deaths were due to the cranes eating some poisonous fruit and we can’t really tell whether they were due to bird-flu. We keep on searching the lagoon area from where we believe these cranes would have come”, he said.

“There are many migrant birds in the lagoon but we did not find any suspicious deaths” said Mannar Medical Officer of Health Dr.M. Kathiragamanathan.
As soon as the dead birds were noticed, the MOH and the Mannar Police had contacted the Animal Husbandry Unit in Kandy.

Medical officers had then sealed the dead birds in polythene bags and sent them to the Gannoruwa Veterinary Research Institute. When contacted officials at the Veterinary Research Institute refused to give further information regarding the tests carried out.

According to the Director General of the Department of Animal Production and Health Dr. S.K.R Amarasekara tests are been held and initial tests have shown negative results. He said the final results of the tests would be released within 48 hours and intimated to the relevant authorities and the public.

He also said the public does not need to panic as the initial reports have shown negative results and if there are any positive signs of bird flu the public will be informed and safety measures taken immediately.

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