Expert team probes cattle deaths in UP district

A team of experts from the Department of Animal Husbandry is probing the death of about 100 cattle in two villages of Uttar Pradesh's Badaun district recorded in the past one month.

The team conducted autopsies of a few dead cattle on Sunday and the report is awaited. Most of the cattle that died were milch cows.

Officials suspect that the cattle died of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), a highly contagious viral infection that afflicts livestock.

Badaun's Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO), Dr Arun Kumar, who visited the villages along with his team for inspection, said: "The spread of FMD may be the cause of death. We have started vaccinating the livestock. Lack of timely treatment leads to the death of cattle. We have sent the samples to the lab for further tests and we are trying to control the spread of this disease in the nearby villages."

The health department, meanwhile, has advised the villagers to immediately bury the carcasses of the animals to ensure that infection, if any, does not spread among healthy animals.

The high incidence of cattle deaths was reported from Bakarpur village and adjoining Barkhera village under Wazirganj police circle area.

The villages have a population of about 1,500 and the primary occupation is agriculture and dairy farming. In fact, almost every house has cattle.

On the morning of December 24, residents of Bakarpur found some 20 dead cattle.

The local residents of Bakarpur then reported the deaths to the district administration after which CVO Kumar along with his team visited the villages.