Dying livestock

There are media reports that sick animals are being transported to cities where they are sold off at knock-down prices

Tharparkar is remote, poor and currently in the grip of a drought. There is scanty agriculture and this desert economy relies on livestock to earn a meagre living. To add to their woes, the herders of Tharparkar are now seeing their flocks and herds decimated by a viral disease that is killing animals by the thousand. Those primarily affected are sheep and goats. Fodder for the animals is reduced because of the drought, and local people surmise that the immune systems of their animals have been weakened by a lack of both food and water.

There is a wider concern. There are media reports that sick animals are being transported to the cities where they are sold off at knock-down prices. The provincial livestock secretary, Zafar Iqbal, has denied the reports and said that his officers have been told to be vigilant in respect of livestock movements. He also played down the numbers of animals affected, talking of ‘hundreds’ rather than the ‘thousands’ being reported by people in the affected areas.

Whatever the truth of the matter, there is clearly an outbreak of a serious viral infection that kills small livestock within days. It started in early January and was widespread by the second week of February. The livestock department of the Sindh government has mobile vans and these are said to be already in the field, but the reality is that there are few resources to counter an outbreak such as this. Despite the assurances of government officials, infected animals will almost certainly make it into the food chain in the cities, with who-knows-what consequence. The scattered population of Tharparkar leads a highly marginal existence with food insecurity an ever-present spectre. They are vulnerable to increasing extreme weather events. They have no ‘fall back’ position or reserves to see them through hard times. In the light of all this, the government must move quickly to limit the spread of this deadly disease.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2014.

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