Foul play? 1.4K guinea fowls abandoned

AHMEDABAD: Citizens living near a shallow wasteland on SP Ring Road, Vastral, were shocked on Monday morning to find more than a thousand guinea fowls being offloaded at the water hole by a truck driver. They apprehended the driver and informed the forest department at around 12.30 pm.
The bird flu scare in Odisha, Delhi and MP could have impelled the locals to become concerned, said animal husbandry officials.
The transporter, who was unloading the birds at the site since 4.30 am, was held by locals who did not let him go till forest officials and animal husbandry department officers arrived.
R N Patel, an officer of the animal husbandry department, who went to the spot, said they will collect samples and send them to National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) Bhopal to see if the birds were infected with bird flu.
Banarasilal Sonkar, a native of Uttar Pradesh, who had brought the birds from Allahabad, told TOI that he had stopped by the water hole at the Vastral site so that the birds could have a 'birdbath' and quench their thirst.
"My transportation contract was up to Ahmedabad, and I was not abandoning the birds here as alleged by locals. I was going to continue the journey to Surat with 1,430 fowls when locals raised an alarm and all the birds were seized by officials," he said.