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Special drive to vaccinate cattle

Special Correspondent

Vaccination was being done free of cost by a special teams of doctors Campaign against Foot-and-Mouth disease The villagers were very responsive and with the awareness of protecting the animals against the onslaught of virtually killer ailment having developed fast, the cattle owners were fully cooperative

Pondicherry: The Department of Animal Husbandry and Animal Welfare in Pondicherry has launched a special drive to protect cattle against attack of Foot-and-Mouth disease.

An official source here said that the total cattle population in the Union Territory was around 1.25 lakh and the vaccination of the animals was being done free of cost by special teams of doctors and veterinary experts who would call at the door steps of cattle and livestock owners in all the areas. The purpose was to protect the animals through preventive measure against the disease.

The source said that the villagers were very responsive and with the awareness of protecting the animals against the onslaught of virtually killer ailment having developed fast, the cattle owners were fully cooperative.

The drive of vaccination was started in first week of October and so far the department teams spanning out to all the communes have covered around 43,000 animals.

Financial assistance

The Centre had extended financial assistance and for vaccination against all types of ailments that would normally attack the milch animals and other type of cattle and the drive against the diseaseh is being implemented making a portion of the total allocation of Rs 65 lakhs.

Teams of doctors with their sub staff are administering the vaccination by meeting the cattle owners from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. every day. The rain interrupted the work of the teams and hence the programme that was scheduled to be taken up in Mettupalayam block on October 31 had been postponed to November 18.

The Union Territory has virtually established a disease-free segment and those purchasing the animals from here were happy that animals with sound health were available here and the purchasers who needed the animals for their dairy projects were guaranteed of the soundness of the health of the animals, said the official source. The source said that vaccination against the disease is being done every six months in a year.

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