Changing weather: Camels dying from ‘respiratory’ disease

Livestock official says the dept is yet to establish if the disease is viral.

MULTAN:

More than a dozen camels are reported to have died in Rojhan, Rajanpur, over the last one week.

Camel owners say the camels have been dying from a disease that they say has yet to be diagnosed. The camels die within four to five hours after saliva and mucus start flowing from their noses and mouths. The deaths have cost camel owners and breeders million of rupees.

Camel owners Miraaj Mazari, Dildar Hussain and Muhammad Hussain, who have lost camels to the mystery disease over the last week, said they bred camels that belonged to rare and expensive specie. They said the camels were exported to Arab countries.

Dr Sohail Ahmad Khan, a Livestock Department assistant investigation officer looking into the matter, said the camels had been suffering from a respiratory disease which, he speculated, could have been a caused due to the changing weather.



He said the government had set up 11 emergency centres in the district where medicines were provided to the animals.

He claimed that the situation was now under control. He said camel breeders should ensure that sick animals were separated from the healthy ones. He said the department had yet to establish whether or not the disease was viral. He said camels should be protected from cold.

He said there had been instances of dead camel being abandoned or buried late. He said action would be taken against those guilty of such irresponsibility.

He said camel owners should call Livestock Department officials on 0800-7868 and 0800-78686 for provision of medicine and other support.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2013.