‘No arrangement to vaccinate livestock brought to Karachi'

KARACHI: The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) or any other agency of Sindh has not been ensuring the vaccination of the large number of animals being brought to the city for meat and milk production so that the spread of highly infectious diseases among the livestock can be prevented.

The Dairy & Cattle Farmers’ Association Pakistan (DCFAP) expressed these concerns in their latest communication sent to the newly appointed Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Livestock, Fisheries & Human Settlement Najmi Alam.

Copies of the correspondence were also sent to the CM, the chief justice of the Sindh High Court, and the director general of the Pakistan Army Corps of Remount Veterinary & Farms.

DCFAP President Shakir Umar Gujjar noted in his correspondence that around 2.5 million animals are brought to Karachi annually to meet the milk and meat requirements of the residents of the country’s largest city and economic hub.

Gujjar pointed out that up to one million of these cattle are brought from upcountry solely for the purpose of milk production in the city.

He mentioned that there are 29 small and large cattle colonies in the city having a presence of around 750,000 cattle for the dairy business.

He said that the spread of contagious animal diseases is quite rapid in the city owing to such a large livestock presence.

The DCFAP president noted that there has been no arrangement at all to carry out the vaccination of the animals being brought to Sindh from upcountry at the entry and exit points of the province. He said the KMC’s veterinary department is responsible for vaccinations in the case of Karachi.

He also said that the relevant department of the KMC has been forcibly collecting a fee of Rs300 per animal for the issuance of the health clearance certificate without vaccinating the livestock being brought to the city.

He pointed out that Sindh is exposed to different infectious animal diseases due to the massive transportation of livestock from upcountry to Karachi and Hyderabad. He also pointed out that there would be a phenomenal increase in livestock transportation in the coming weeks due to Eidul Azha.

He informed the CM’s adviser that cases of infectious animal diseases have lately emerged in different cattle colonies in the city, saying that these viral veterinary diseases include haemorrhagic septicemia, lumpy skin disease (LSD) and foot & mouth disease.

Gujjar lamented that the Sindh Livestock Department has not provided any vaccine to cattle and dairy farmers in the city for the past two years. He said that such negligence on the part of the relevant authorities has proved lethal for the livestock sector.

He also said that the livestock department had earlier shown exceptionally praiseworthy performance during the outbreak of LSD. The Sindh Institute of Animal Health had indigenously produced the vaccine required to prevent the spread of LSD in the province, he added.

Later on, he pointed out, the vaccinators and veterinarians associated with the livestock department had conducted an aggressive and swift vaccination drive to prevent the spread of LSD.

Gujjar lamented that this hard work and achievement of the livestock department has been ruined over the past two years. He demanded that the livestock in the province be vaccinated, while a thorough investigation be conducted into the negligence of the relevant authorities in this regard.

Meanwhile, in a briefing given to the CM’s adviser after he joined the provincial cabinet, the officials concerned conceded that due to a lack of resources, only 30 per cent of the livestock present in the province had been properly vaccinated.

The adviser was informed that the livestock department had vaccinated 23,779,984 animals in the province, and that the provincial livestock agencies had been indigenously producing 68 vaccines to protect animals from different viral diseases.