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At least 51 crows have died after an infection from Highly Pathogenic Avian Influnenza (HPAI) avian flu in Udgir city of Latur district, Maharashtra.
The deaths of crows were first reported on January 13, deputy commissioner of animal husbandry, Shridhar Shinde, noted in a statement.
At least 28 crows were reported dead on January 13, followed by another five on January 15. The officials said the death toll increased and samples were immediately sent to the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Aundh, Pune and ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Disease (NIHSAD) in Bhopal.
On January 18, the reports showed that the cause of the death was bird flu. This is the first instance of crows contracting the disease in 2025. It was previously reported in 2021.
Earlier, the district officials suspected the deaths due to food poisoning owing to bacterial infection and ruled out the possibility of bird flu. The Pune laboratory informed that the infection was caused by Escherichia coli, the newspaper The Times of India reported.
Following the news, district collector Varsha Thakur Ghuge issued prohibitory orders within 10-kilometre radius from the two gardens where the crows were found dead.
“The district collector has banned entry into the nearby public places and shut down water tank and ordered sanitisation and disinfection of the areas to contain the disease where the infected crows were found,” Shinde said in a press statement.
He added that people have also been instructed to report any such instances of dead birds or animals which may be due to bird flu infection.
Earlier in January, three tigers and a leopard in Balasaheb Thackeray Gorewada International Zoological Park in Nagpur were reported to have died due to H5N1.
According to the United Nations, HPAI H5N1 bird flu strain has “spilled over into wildlife” to infect over 500 species and at least 70 mammalian species across 108 countries in five continents.
So far in the United States, 67 people have been diagnosed with bird flu and one person succumbed to it since March 2023.
The World Health Organization maintains that the risk of infection is low as no evidence of human-to-human transmission has been reported.
