The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association in Kirikasamma Local Government Area of Jigawa on Thursday said foot and mouth disease had killed over 50 cows in the area.
Its Chairman, Alhaji Wada Mai-Jama’a, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kirikasamma.
He said over 1,000 cows were infected by the disease since the beginning of its outbreak in August 2018.
“ Over 50 cows died as a result of the foot and mouth epidemic which started sometime in August.
“Out of the over 5,000 cows in Kirikasamma, no fewer than 1,000 were infected by the disease.
“ However, many were later treated by some local animal health attendants,” Mai-Jama’a said.
The chairman listed the symptoms of the disease to include fever, weight loss, loss of appetite, lameness, drop in milk production and blisters in the mouth and on feet.
He noted that the epidemic had brought untold hardship to the herders who were compelled to sell their sick cows prematurely or risked losing them.
Mai-Jama’a then called on government at all levels to intervene to stop the spread of the disease.
“ We are calling on government at all levels to help us in fighting this disease, in a similar way they normally help crop growers.
“ They should also assist us in establishing a veterinary clinic because there is none in the entire wards of Kirikasamma,” he said.
Efforts to speak with the council chairman proved abortive, but a source who spoke on condition of anonymity told NAN that the incidence was not reported to the council.
“ The truth is that this matter has not been officially reported to the council.
“ If they had reported it, I assure you the council would have intervened because we had done that in the past in numerous occasions,” the source said.
At a news conference in Dutse on Nov. 27, the state Ministry of Agriculture had confirmed the outbreak of the disease in Birniwa, Mallammadori, Kirikasamma, Auyo and Kafin-Hausa areas.
Spokesman of the ministry, Alhaji Zubairu Suleiman, called on cattle breeders to visit veterinary clinic nearest to them with their animals for treatment.
He said the ministry had acquired adequate vaccines to treat the disease and control its spread to other parts of the state.(NAN)