Coronavirus scare: Farmer buries 6,000 chickens alive in Karnataka

A farmer in Karnataka's Gokak buried a truckload of chickens in his farm over coronavirus fears. The farmer also shot a video of the horrid burial which has gone viral. The video is being passed off as a measure to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. The farmer, Najeer Ahmed Makandar, loaded around 6,000 chickens, all about a month old in a truck and dumped the live birds in a large pit in Nulsoor on Monday. Nulsoor is located in Belagavi's Gokak taluk.

According to a Times of India report, Ahmed had spent around Rs 6 lakh to rear the chickens. Najeer is the owner of a chicken farm in Gokak.

Ahmed said that poultry farmers are facing huge losses due to coronavirus outbreak. Earlier, a live chicken was sold at Rs 50-70 per kg and that was profitable but right now, the prevailing price is Rs 5 to Rs 10, he said. He further added that he could not sell at such a loss and also wasn't able to take care of the birds.

In another incident in Bangarpet taluk, around 9,500 chicks were buried alive. In this case also, the farm owner Satish cited losses to the tune of Rs 20,000 to justify his actions.

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