Mystery Disease causing cattle deaths in Iraq marshlands
Pastor Dale Morgan
Mystery Disease causing cattle deaths in Iraq marshlands*
23 Jun 2008 12:42:54 GMT
Source: IRIN
BAGHDAD, 23 June 2008 (IRIN) - Local officials in southern Iraq warned
on 23 June that pollution in the marshlands of southern Iraq was
responsible for the spread of an unknown mystery disease which had led
to the deaths of hundreds of cows and buffaloes.
"We call upon the Iraqi government and the Ministry of Agriculture to
declare a state of emergency in the marshlands as we can't determine the
disease which has been affecting cattle since April," said Mohammed Arif
Mohammed, a veterinary officer in Dhi Qar Province.
"It is a cross between foot and mouth disease and a fever known locally
as 'rotten blood bleeding'. Our first guess at an explanation is that
the disease is caused by pollutants in the marshlands and the lack of
vaccines," Mohammed told IRIN.
Mohammed could not confirm the number of cattle deaths but estimated
that 100-300 cows and buffaloes had died as a result of the disease
since April.
Nassiriyah, the capital of Dhi Qar where some of the cattle deaths have
occurred, is about 400km south of Baghdad and has over 50 percent of the
country's marshlands.
Khalid Ali Moussa, an environmentalist with the environment directorate
in Missan, another southern province where cattle deaths have been
recorded, said the main problem was that there was no effective
governmental supervision to prevent water contamination.
"We can't send our employees all over the marshlands to check on
contamination levels for security reasons. Environmental awareness is
low, meaning there is reckless dumping of waste material in the
marshlands," Moussa said.
Iraq's fabled marshlands were home to millions of native and migratory
birds as well as the Marsh Arabs, who fished and grazed water buffalo
here for more than 5,000 years.
However, after the first Gulf War in 1991, Saddam Hussein moved to drain
the marshes in retribution for a failed Shia uprising. Hundreds of
thousands of inhabitants were forced out.
Since the start of the US-led occupation of Iraq in 2003, efforts by the
Iraqi government and international organisations to restore the marshes
have been gradually reviving the area.
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