Kanpur, May 18 -- The peacock found dead on the Kanpur zoo campus on Friday tested positive for avian influenza, according to a report from the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal. The report also confirmed that the lion Pataudi, brought from the Gorakhpur zoo on May 11, died of the same virus at the Kanpur zoo on May 15. Kanpur zoo ranger Naved Ikram said, "Both the samples - that of the peacock and the lion - tested positive at the Bhopal laboratory." Both animals were infected with the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, he said. Following the confirmation of avian flu in the peacock, Kanpur mayor Pramila Pandey stated that directions have been issued to shut down or relocate all meat-selling shops within a 600-metre radius of the Kanpur zoo. The death of the peacock, a free-ranging bird within the zoo premises, has raised serious concern among the authorities. "There are thousands of free-ranging birds in the zoo. The death of one due to avian influenza suggests that more may be infected," forest department officials said.Authorities warned that infected birds could act as carriers of the virus, if they venture into human habitats. "As of now, the zoo is being sanitised twice daily by the Kanpur Nagar Nigam and zoo staff as a containment measure," they added. So far, five animal deaths have been attributed to bird flu - three at the Gorakhpur zoo and two at the Kanpur zoo. An over seven-year-old tiger Keshri died at the Gorakhpur zoo on March 30, a leopard succumbed on April 7; and the tigress Shakti died on May 8 - all later confirmed as avian flu cases, said divisional forest officer and Gorakhpur zoo director Vikas Yadav. As a precautionary measure, all zoos in Uttar Pradesh - including those in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Kanpur, and the Etawah Lion Safari - have been closed to visitors till May 20.eanwhile, Kanpur district magistrate Jitendra Pratap Singh, who held a high-level meeting following the animal deaths, said all those who came in close proximity with the lion would be examined. "We have identified 24 people, and their blood samples are being collected by the medical team," he said Monitoring has been stepped up in and around the zoo. A veterinary team from the city is assisting the zoo authorities....