Bird Flu Scare: Ruddy Shelducks Found Dead In Odisha’s Cuttack District

Cuttack: Panic gripped Banki block in Cuttack district of Odisha after carcasses of Ruddy Shelduck migratory birds were found in a paddy field on Wednesday.

Sources said the youths found some Ruddy Shelduck birds lying on the field. On a closer look they found that the four birds had died and a couple of other Rudy Shelducks were on battling for life.

The youths later informed the local Snake Helpline member Durga Prasad Mahapatra who rushed to the spot and sent the pcitures and videos of the dead birds to the Snake Helpline secretary Subhendu Mallick.

Mallick advised the people not to touch the dead birds and requested the Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Khurda to investigate the incident.

The Ruddy Shelduck, known in India as the Brahminy Duck is a migratory bird of South-Eastern Europe and Central Asia that usually flies to the Indian subcontinent during winter.

These species inhabit inland water bodies such as lakes, reservoirs and rivers and feed on grasses, young shoots of plants, grain and water plants as well as both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates.