With nowhere to turn, farmers struggle to treat ailing animals amid disease outbreak fears

Inadequate arrangements at veterinary healthcare centres for the treatment and cure of common diseases has become a cause for concern in the region’s rural areas due to the rising risk of zoonotic diseases.

Residents, including dairy farmers, animal lovers and owners of domesticated animals, have urged the authorities concerned to enhance arrangements for the treatment of diseases like cancer, gastroenteritis and zoonotic diseases like salmonella, rabies, anthrax, influenza and ebola.

Kulwinder Singh Gill of Jhuner village, a farmer with boundless love for animals, said the government should make adequate arrangements for treatment of serious diseases at all veterinary dispensaries. His bullock is suffering from cancer and amid a lack of proper treatment he has taken it upon himself to administer treatment.

“Although I am aware of the potential risks involved with keeping severely infected animals at home, I am committed to make the last days of my bullock as comfortable as possible with treatment under the guidance of a veterinary physician,” said Gill regretting that the condition of his cattle had not improved even after a surgery at GADVASU about five months ago. Feeding vegetables, massaging limbs, cleaning wounds and administering lifesaving antibiotics and other medicines through intravenous mode, is a daily routine for Gill.

Karnail Singh of Lohgarh village said he had to sell two cows, which were suspected patients of cancer, as there were no treatments available either at government dispensaries or with private practitioners.

Residents alleged that unchecked desertion of ailing animals had led to an increased risk of infectious diseases spreading among humans.

Experts in animal healthcare argue that while cancer is not directly a zoonotic disease, some pathogens can increase the risk of it spreading to humans by causing chronic inflammation or immune-suppression.

Though direct transmission to humans is currently rare, the idea that some animal cancers might be transmissible to humans has emerged as focus of research.

Officials in the animal husbandry and veterinary departments, however, claimed that adequate proactive measures were taken in routine for the prevention of spread of infectious diseases among animals. The number of animals suffering from cancer was also reported to be low in the region.

“Besides providing treatment to animals, we remain in touch with experts in the field at advanced institutes of veterinary sciences in the region,” said Dr Jagdev Singh.