Jorhat Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department takes up massive drive; Large number of animals vaccinated

A CORRESPONDENT

JORHAT: The Jorhat district Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Department has taken up a massive drive for disaster preparedness. A massive drive is going on under the programme ‘Moromor Jorhat’ declared by the district administration. In the last two months, the department has carried out vaccination and health awareness programmes.

Under the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP), the department is trying to cover all the animals to vaccinate against FMD and Brucellosis. FMD - Foot and Mouth Disease, popularly known as ‘Chabaka’ is a viral infection which infects all the cloven-footed animals such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat and pig. Brucellosis is another bacterial disease which also infects all the stated groups of animals leading to fertility and gestational problems. To eradicate these two diseases, the Government of India is planning a continuous vaccination for the two diseases under NADCP. As a part of preparedness for disaster and to control epidemics, the department vaccinated more than 1.1 lakh cattle and buffalo for FMD and 20,451 heifers for Brucellosis. The Brucellosis vaccine is inoculated to the non-pregnant young females only.

Dr Boby Barthakur, the Nodal Officer for the vaccination programme, said that 35,000 doses of HSBQ vaccines were administered to cattle and buffaloes in the month of March and April.

The dreaded viral infection in pigs, the African Swine Fever, though not reported in the district last year, the another form of the disease, Classical Swine Fever infected several farms of the district leading to massive killing of animals. Dr Prabin kumar Neog, Nodal Officer for Disaster Management of Jorhat district, said that the Jorhat district received 18,000 doses of Swine Fever vaccine out of which almost 4,000 doses were inoculated to the pigs of the district last month.

Rabies infection, popularly known as ‘Jalatanka’, is also a concern due to segregation of a large number of animals in a limited space along with pet animals. This year, the department is providing a series of free Anti-Rabies Vaccination under Rashtriya Krishi Bikash Yojana. In last two months, more than 400 stray and adopted pets were vaccinated for rabies in the district.

A pox like viral disease, popularly known as Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), created trouble in northern and middle India last year with huge mortality. Aiming to protect the animals, the Government of India is supplying LSD vaccines to all the states. The Veterinary department, Jorhat received 33,000 doses of LSD vaccine out of which 18,000 doses were inoculated to the cattle population of the district so far.

This year, for the first time, Assam Livestock Development Agency (ALDA) is promoting healthcare programme for the khuti buffaloes with provision of creating awareness for buffalo rearing, deworming, mineral feeding and vaccination. Accordingly, the Veterinary Department of Jorhat organized 12 health camps for buffaloes, providing vaccination for Haemorrhagic septicemia (HS) and Black Quarter (BQ) diseases along with distribution of deworming agents, supplements and mineral mixers. District Veterinary Officer Dr Bhupen Das said that these programmes have been implemented in the district with active participation of the Veterinary Field Assistant staff under guidance of the Block Veterinary Officers.

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