Ranikhet starts killing Thar peacocks again
June 10, 2020 03:13 PM
Peacocks have started dying again in the Thar Desert as the highly-contagious Newcastle disease – locally known as Ranikhet – is infecting the beautiful birds living wild in the region, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Wednesday.
The wildlife department confirmed that hundreds of peacocks were dying in the villages located around Diplo and Kaloi sub-districts (talukas” as severe heat was also affecting the region.
In one of these villages, ten peacocks have died in just a week with their necks and feet twisted, as the wildlife department said many of them were dying on a daily basis in the region.
It is also reported from the area that many peacock have been infected with the deadly virus and need urgent attention.
The Newcastle disease is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic poultry, cage and aviary birds and wild birds. It is characterised by digestive, respiratory and/or nervous signs.
Death rate can be up to 100 per cent in severe forms of the disease. The incubation period is usually five to six days but can vary from two to 15 days.
It is not for the first time that the deadly virus has infected peacocks in Thar Desert. Earlier in the 2017 winter, hundreds of birds had died in the region, while the same was repeated in the late summer of 2018 when the water shortage had complicated the problem.
Even before that, The Washington Post in a report published on August 10, 2012 had said, “The wild peacocks of Pakistan were dying in droves. Was the government covering it up?”
“That was the question Pakistanis were raising last week as reports persisted from the Thar desert area of southern Sindh province about peacocks whirling themselves to death in mad dances that appeared to have no earthly explanation.”
“By midweek, more than 120 peacock deaths had been reported — and the toll would keep rising — but the government would only acknowledge that 11 peacocks had died. Newspapers carried photos of children carrying corpses of the magnificently plumed fowl.”
“The disease — known as Ranikhet in Pakistan — hit Thar and six other districts in Sindh. Thar alone is estimated to have 70,000 peacocks,” The Washington Post had reported.