Saturday, September 08, 2012
Karachi
The twenty two thousand Australian sheep suffering from a scabby mouth disease could transmit the contagious disease to humans, leading to an epidemic, if immediate measures to eradicate it were not adopted.
In a letter sent to the Chief Secretary Raja Mohammad Abbas, Adviser to the Chief Minister Sindh for Relief Haleem Adil Sheikh has written: “I would like to invite your kind attention towards the reports circulating in the electronic and print media about the arrival of 22, 000 Australian infected sheep at the Karachi Port. Reportedly, the ship which carried the sheep had Middle Eastern countries as their destination. But their authorities did not allow these sheep to be unloaded in their countries. Reportedly, Bahrain had shown concern about the discovery of the infection in the sheep.
However, these allegedly infected sheep have been unloaded at Port Qasim Karachi and handed over to an unknown buyer.”
“These sheep are infected by a scabby mouth disease which can be spread to humans as well as livestock. Hence, their sale in the market and subsequent slaughter would result in an outbreak of epidemic diseases. Under the section-4(i) of the Sindh National Calamities (prevention & relief) Act-1958, it is the responsibility of the Relief Department to take all measures for the prevention, checking and control of the spread/outbreak of epidemic/diseases in the province to save the people and livestock. We, therefore, have to take such immediate steps to ensure that these sheep are not slaughtered and their meat is not sold in the market until proper and complete investigation in connection to their health condition is made by the livestock and concerned authorities.”
“It would therefore be appreciated if you can kindly ban the sale of the diseased sheep before a proper investigation. Further steps should be taken to keep the cattle farm of these sheep sealed till their health condition is confirmed by an expert team of animal husbandry and other professionals. Before proper investigation, their sale in the market would be dangerous for our people and livestock and their export on the other hand will shame Pakistan in the eyes of the outside world.” http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-4-130651-Infected-Australian-sheep-pose-epidemic-threat
