Balasore Nov 24 : The queer case of a wedding and 63 funerals is playing out at Kandagaradi village in Odisha’s Balasore district, leaving local police bemused.
The wedding was that of Ramachandra Parida’s daughter. At 11 pm on Sunday night, the wedding procession entered the village. As is the norm these days, even in villages, there was a DJ, loud music, even fireworks.
The deaths (not funerals), were of 63 chickens in a poultry farm belonging to Ranjit Parida, Ramachandra Parida’s neighbour, who claims his birds died of shock from the loud music. He also claims that he argued with the wedding party about the loudness of their music, but to no avail. The roughly 2000 birds in his poultry farm were agitated by the music, he adds. And 63 died. On Monday, he filed a complaint at the Nilagiri police station alleging that the birds died of shock from the loud music and the fireworks.
Ramchandra Parida claims that the allegation is frivolous. ‘So many broiler chickens are transported on the road every day amid blaring horns. How is it possible that the birds in his farm died due to DJ music? In any case we lowered the volume of the music.’
Nilagiri police station inspector-in-charge Droupadi Das said she has called both Paridas for a discussion on the complaint. ‘Such a case is completely new for me. We are yet to register the case and may to have consult a veterinarian.’
Parida, 22, an engineering graduate who in 2019 borrowed ₹200,000 from a local cooperative to start his farm said he tried to revive the chickens after they collapsed. He adds that he checked with a veterinary doctor who said that it was the loud noise that killed the birds.
He initially sought compensation from his neighbour, but after it was refused, filed the complaint.
Prof Suryakanta Mishra, a zoology professor who had authored a book on animal behaviour, said that loud noise does increase the risk of cardiovascular disease in birds. ‘Chickens are governed by a circadian rhythm that is controlled by the natural light/dark cycle of day and night. As such, chickens mostly rest and are inactive at night, especially when it is dark. Sudden excitement or stress due to loud music could disrupt their biological clock.’