Officials of Central Animal Quarantine Office (CAQO) killed and buried 245 birds of rare species on Thursday night on the premises of Tribhuvan International Airport, in a bid to keep at bay the possibility of bird flu, newspaper report said.

The illegally imported rare birds were passed by the customs office but were caught by the District Forest Officers on the airport. However, the owner of the birds managed to escape the scene.

“We killed the birds as the government had prohibited import of any living or dead birds from Pakistan, fearing bird flu,” The Himalayan Times daily quoted chief veterinarian at CAQO Dr Balaram Thapa as saying.

The variety of birds, mainly belonging to parrot families and believed to be of African origin, were brought to Kathmandu on Pakistan International Airlines flight no. PK 268 in four cages with tag nos. 0124PK39-58-42, 0124PK39-58-43, 0124PK39-58-44 and 0124PK39-58-45 at 3.00 pm. They were in possession of Ahned Shaikh Wahee, who was let off by the customs officer without inquiring about the necessary documents.

According to Animal Health and Animal Service Act 2055, one needs to acquire government approval before importing live animals from foreign countries and must produce International Animal Health Certificate from the country of origin, which makes that country responsible in the case of any epidemic outburst.

Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation had written to the chief of Customs Office at TIA, asking it to hand over the birds to the department, but it could not get the birds.

The District Forest Officer Madhav Acharya also objected to the killing of birds in haste. “The customs officer did not help us arrest the importer when we arrived there. The birds were dubiously killed around 2 am without our presence,” he said. He added, “We missed the opportunity to burst the bird smuggling racket.”