Bird flu control: Dhodial pheasantry to re-open from July 5

MANSEHRA:

The Dhodial pheasantry will re-open to visitors from July 5. The situation is under control and all pheasants have been vaccinated, official sources told The Express Tribune on Wednesday.

The pheasantry was closed about a month ago following the death of some rare species of pheasants. “We have lost the costly Himalayan monals and peacocks due to bird flue,” said an official on condition of anonymity.

Following this the management had stopped visitors’ access to the pheasantry. More than 500 people, including students, visit the facility daily; the entrance fee is Rs10 per head.

The hatchery covers about eight acres of the Hazara University’s Garden campus. It is Asia’s biggest pheasantry with a population of over 2,000 birds and is currently home to about 16 of the 40 species of pheasants found worldwide.

The pheasantry was set up in 1984 with the purpose of conserving rare species and currently has 400 pairs of different bird types.

Cheer, Kalij, Koklass, Himalyan Monal, Western Tragopan, peacocks, cranes, ducks and other species of birds are being kept in the hatchery.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2011.