Bengaluru: With a high alert sounded across the state over the outbreak of bird flu, which was detected in a poultry farm at Melkera village in Humnabad taluk, chicken has been taken off the menu for medium-sized cats and other carnivorous animals at the Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP). After the outbreak of H5NI or bird flu, jungle cats, leopards and other carnivorous animals that were fed chicken are now given beef and milk.
Though the incident has occurred some 650 km from Bengaluru and the animal husbandry ministry has ordered culling of 1.3 lakh chickens affected with the flu, the authorities at BBP are not taking any chances. “We have stopped feeding chicken to all our carnivorous species, especially medium sized cats. We cannot put these animals in danger and this is a precautionary measure. We are now cutting beef into small pieces and feeding them with milk. Only after the bird flu problem is resolved, we will start feeding chicken to our carnivorous species,” said Santosh Kumar, Executive Director, BBP.
In 2010, a series of big cat deaths was reported at the zoo after a salmonella bacteria breakout, which was again from infected chickens. After three tigers died and 15 of the 41 tigers fell sick, the authorities had to use expensive antibiotics to save the big cats. “Big cats like lions and tigers have no problem as they are only fed only with beef and not chicken,” Mr Kumar said.
