Lumpy skin infected carcasses are found to be flown in water bodies of Punjab and Haryana. In Haryana, Jawaharlal Nehru Bhalaut Sub Branch, there have been more than 50 carcasses of cows, pigs, and dogs found whereas in Punjab 5 dead cattle were found in Kotbhai tributary. Different Non-Govt organizations from Punjab and Haryana are raising their protest and concern on this issue. Punjab Water Resources Minister Mr. Harjot Singh Bains earlier has urged livestock farmers and the general public of the state not to dispose of carcasses of dead animals in any water body.
A statement issued by Bains said that it has come to his notice that some people are disposing of carcasses of cattle killed by lumpy skin disease in waterbodies and 5 dead cattle have been found floating in Kotbhai tributary near Mahima Bhagwana village in Bathinda.
The minister said that carcasses should be disposed of as per the instructions issued by the Animal Husbandry Department. This trend should be stopped immediately as it can aggravate the situation further, said Bains. In Haryana, Jasmer Hooda, convener of Suno Nahro Ki Pukar Mission said that 50 carcasses of pigs, dogs, cows, and buffaloes have been brought out by the Irrigation Department from the two canals in the last four days. We have been in the practice cleaning the canals for the past nine months but have never found so many carcasses, hence we suspect the reason to be LSD.
A local NGO of Punjab president Anupam Pental said, “This is really shameful on the part of those people who dispose of animals in a water body, this is criminal. Everyone knows that Lumpy Skin disease is contagious, how come someone is so cruel and infects the precious resource of living beings.”