Peafowl (both peacock and peahen) deaths have been reported from the South Range of the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary in the Darjeeling district over the past week.
Similar deaths have also been reported from the Bengal Safari Park located in Siliguri in the past few months.
"In the past one week, as many as six peafowls were found dead in the South Range of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. Similarly, till date in 2022, 4 peafowls also died at the Bengal Safari Park out of the six peafowls in the park," the official said.
These four peafowls have died of the Newcastle Disease Virus(NDV), a disease that affects the respiratory tracts of birds.
"Till now we have not come across so many deaths in such a short span of time hence we sent the carcasses to Bengal Safari Park for post-mortem," stated Suratna Sherpa, DFO, Darjeeling Wildlife Division.
Viscera were sent to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biological Research and Training Centre, Belgachia, Kolkata. "The cause of death was diagnosed as Newcastle disease," added the DFO.
The official added that they are taking all steps to prevent the deaths of more peafowl in the area.
( With inputs from ANI )
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor