The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Kolkata

Villagers in eastern India are continuing to eat chickens killed by bird flu, prompting fears the country's worst ever outbreak of the virus could worsen, an official said Monday. West Bengal animal resources development minister, Anisur Rahaman, told AFP that the situation in the affected areas was "horrible," and that authorities needed to accelerate a cull of hundreds of thousands of chickens and ducks. "The ignorance of villagers is one of the main hurdles. They are carrying the dead chickens without any protective gear," he said. "Most villagers are not aware of the disease. They are eating the dead chickens. Their children are playing with the infected chickens on the courtyards. It's horrible," Rahaman added. "Blood samples of the dead poultry have been sent for tests. We are awaiting the report," he said. Rahaman said authorities had so far killed 200,000 birds, and were planning to cull 500,000 more in the next three to four days.