By: Kamran Khamiso Khowaja
SUJAWAL: Around 10 cows, 5 buffalos, claves, sheep, and goats have died of a contagious disease in Belo town and its adjoining areas during a week. According to local sources, the actual number of cattle that died of this disease could be staggeringly high as compared to the given numbers.
Mohammad Ibrahim a local cattle breeder said that the lungs of an animal are badly affected by this disease and it develops a high-grade fever. The disease barely takes two to three days to kill the animal. The heavy fever makes the animal lazy, the throat of the animal starts swelling causing difficulty in breathing that results in its death; he said.
The poor residents in the rural areas of the district rely on cattle heads as their major source of livelihood have sustained huge financial loss and the disease is likely to play more havoc in these areas if the measures were not taken.
Owner of around over a dozen cattle heads Mohammad Bachal told this correspondent that the disease that is locally called ‘Ghoghri’ Hemorrhagic septicemia was spreading rapidly across the area and cattle including sheep and goats were falling prey to this disease but the department of livestock and animal husbandry has taken no steps to protect their animals. He urged authorities concerned to initiate vaccination drives so that the cattle heads of poor people could be saved.