Thong Thu (Que Phong): Dead buffalo not reported to authorities

(Baonghean)Seeing their buffalo die, many people in Thong Thu commune (Que Phong) remained indifferent and did not report to the authorities, making disease prevention difficult.

For nearly a month now, many buffaloes belonging to people in Muong Piet, Muong Phu, Ang villages... (Thong Thu commune) have died for unknown reasons. Most of these buffaloes, when discovered, had been dead for many days in the forest, their meat had decomposed and gave off a foul smell. People saw that the buffaloes had not returned for many days, so they went into the forest to look for them, found dead buffaloes but could not find out which one was theirs, and could only sadly take the buffalo horns home as souvenirs.

Mr. Quang Van Bich, a resident of Muong Piet village (Thong Thu) said: For more than 3 days, he did not see his buffalo come home, so he was very worried. Some people saw a dead buffalo in the forest and went to look for it, but because the meat was rotten, they did not know if it was their buffalo or not. Mr. Bich's family had 4 draft buffaloes, but 1 died, causing a loss of more than 20 million VND. Mr. Bich said that the cause of the buffaloes' death was anthrax. According to the summary of the People's Committee of Thong Thu commune, up to now, the whole commune has 7 dead buffaloes. However, Mr. Bich said that the actual number of dead buffaloes is much larger. There is a family like Mr. Quang Van Nguyet, Muong Piet village, with 5 dead buffaloes, including 1 draft buffalo, 2 mother buffaloes and 2 baby buffaloes, with an estimated loss of nearly 70 million VND.

Although the phenomenon of buffaloes dying of unknown causes has occurred for many days (since June 1), the District Agriculture Department has not grasped the information that veterinary staff only received on June 25. Mr. Tran Trong Diep - Head of the District Veterinary Station said: "Information about buffaloes dying in Thong Thu commune was learned by the district veterinary staff in charge of the area through the people. The commune authorities did not report to us. Currently, we have not been able to determine the cause of death and are suspecting it is due to anthrax and blood parasites." In response to the above incident, the Veterinary Station organized a steering committee meeting and conducted statistics on the number of dead buffaloes. In addition, the station is providing Bencoxit chemicals and distributing vaccines against anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) to vaccinate the cattle herd of the entire commune.

Regarding the exact number of dead buffaloes, Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Deputy Head of the District Veterinary Station said that some people did not report truthfully. On the other hand, due to the process of moving houses to new places, buffaloes of households may have strayed or been stolen, so people thought that buffaloes had died in the forest. "People's farming custom is to let them roam freely, so the statistics are very difficult and incomplete. However, we will continue to work with the commune authorities and people to verify the information to have the most accurate data," said Mr. Cuong.

It is known that many people when discovering dead buffaloes not only do not report to the authorities but also slaughter them for food. This is a really dangerous problem for human health and can cause the disease to spread quickly. Therefore, the authorities need to intervene soon to take timely measures to limit the spread of the disease on a large scale, causing economic losses to the people.

Pham Bang - Dinh River