Four dairy animals die, 40 taken ill in Tibba village

Lovleen Bains

Sahnewal, August 20

Four dairy animals died while 40 others were taken ill after they reportedly consumed poisonous green fodder, which was cut from one of the fields in Tibba village.

Bhola Singh, who suffered the loss of three diary animals, said one of the villagers had surplus fodder which was served to the animals.

“Neither the owner of the field nor we were aware that the bajra was overripe and not fit to be served. It acted as a source of poison after the animals consumed it and around 45 to 50 animals had fallen ill last week. We tried to give them medicines, but they did not recover and rather began to die one after the other. One of them died on August 18 and the other three died on Sunday,” he shared.

Tanoj, a comedy artiste and resident of Tibba, said: “Alarmed by the development, we contacted the Animal Husbandry Department, which sent their team immediately and started the animals’ medication. Animals are now responding to the medication and are reportedly out of danger.”

Senior Veterinary Officer Mohammad Iqbal said: “The animals had eaten the fodder which was overripe and resultantly, they were unable to excrete or eat anything else. The animals have been in the same state for the past four days and the villagers kept on self-medicating them. As a result, their condition worsened. They informed us early this morning. Around 45 to 50 animals were sick when our team, including eight veterinary officer and experts from Sangrur, reached the spot. We began with the treatment immediately and the animals are safe now. ”

“The bodies of dead animals have been sent for postmortem examination. Samples of those undergoing treatment have been taken,” he added.