Cattle keepers have confirmed that a mystery disease has killed about 75 head of cattle in Awerial County of Lakes State.
One of the affected, Aguto Riak, told Radio Tamazuj Monday that the animals had died in Ataak and Lawton cattle camps within two weeks.
He described the incident as a massive loss to the local community that depends almost exclusively on livestock.
“I am calling on the Animal Resource, Livestock and Fisheries ministry to come to our help because our livestock are being decimated by this mystery disease,” he said.
Riak said that the disease, whose symptoms include wounds in the hooves and the body, was worst in Ataak, Lawoi and Ruop.
“After a cow develops big wounds in their hooves and swellings on the body, they became weak and die within hours,” he said.
A youthful herder at Ruop cattle camp, Abor Wal, reported that 25 animals died this week alone and more were falling sick.
“This disease has become very serious. Yesterday when we reviewed the total numbers from individuals, we found that 25 cows had died. We are worried more may die if no help comes urgently,” he said.
The cattle keepers have called on the Department of Livestock and the NGOs in Awerial to intervene.
The Awerial Director for Livestock and Fisheries, James Chuti Riak, promised to visit the cattle camps next week to assess the situation.
“I will need to visits those cattle camps, assess the condition of the cattle there and identify the disease before I could report it to the State ministry. But I blame the cattle camp leaders for not reporting about this disease before it killed a huge number of cattle,” he said.