As many as 1,269 poultry birds, 40 goats and 20 cattle died in this month’s flood in Dakshina Kannada, according to a study conducted by the College of Fisheries, Mangaluru, for the State government.
On a direction from the government, the college had sent five teams to Mangaluru, Bantwal, Belthangady, Puttur and Sullia taluks a week ago to assess livestock damage.
The assessment report, released to the media by A. Senthil Vel, Dean and Professor, stated: “This loss could get magnified during the post-flood scenario due to lack of shelter, feed and increased spread of diseases.”
It said that livestock — especially cattle — were deprived of fodder and feed which compelled farmers to sell all their cattle in Belthangady taluk.
It recommended that a flood relief fund should be established in each gram panchayat to address immediate needs of livestock and people during such calamities. The procedure for livestock insurance and the claim process should be simplified further.
Veterinary treatment kits (containing medicine, treatment for injuries, to address dehydration, water contamination etc.) should be supplied to all affected areas immediately after the flood.
Central fodder bank
A central fodder bank can be established at the district headquarters, the report said.
The State Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department may be provided with animal ambulances in taluks with all necessary facilities to treat affected livestock and to carry out similar functions in the rest of the year.
The government may consider leasing out government land including forest lands to unemployed youth to grow fodder and buy back fodder by paying a suitable price, it said.
The report said that according to the 2018 livestock census, Dakshina Kannada had 4,36,467 livestock and 17,21,908 poultry birds. It included 2,53,715 head of cattle —1,13,747 of local breed and 1,39,968 hybrids. The district had 3,700 buffalo, 265 sheep, 24,628 goats, 6,463 pigs, 1,166 rabbits, 1,46,510 dogs and others.
The teams of the college interacted with the elected members, milk co-operative societies, Panchayat Development Officers (PDO) and Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, and other line department officials, flood-affected persons and volunteers of NGOs to gather the ground-level information, it said.
