Cattle diseases break out in B'baria

Twenty cattleheads died on Monday and Tuesday, sources at the District Relief and Rehabilitation Office (DRRO) said yesterday.

Cattle diseases like fever, cough, dysentery and diarrhoea have become almost endemic now as all the eight upazilas and three pourasabhas were under three to eight feet water for days during the flood. Cattle suffered the most, they said.

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The worst affected areas are Brahmanbaria Sadar, Sarial, Kasba, Akhaura, Nabinagar, Nasirnagor and Banchrampur upazilas. About 600 cattle died in Brahmanbaria Sadar including the pourasabha araes, they said.

Malnutrition due to fodder crisis aggravated the situation.

Farmer Arab Ali at Shahjadapur village told this correspondent during a visit that two of his cattle is sick but no veterinarian visited the villages.

Many farmers this correspondent talked to said a vaccination campaign should launched immediately to check outbreak of cattle diseases in an epidemic form.

When contacted District Livestock Officer Md Nurul Islam however said most of the deaths were due to malnutrition from fodder crisis, not disease.

He said they will soon launch a programme to immunise 3,00,000 cattle and 30,00,000 poultry birds under a post-flood vaccination programme.