Farm animals starve under neglect in containment zones

The struggles that come with a global pandemic are hard not just for humans, but also for hundreds of farm animals and pets.
Veterinary Surgeon Kiran Dev MS giving treatment and care to pregnant goats. (Photo | Express)
Veterinary Surgeon Kiran Dev MS giving treatment and care to pregnant goats. (Photo | Express)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The struggles that come with a global pandemic are hard not just for humans, but also for hundreds of farm animals and pets. Animals in the containment and critical containment zones in the state capital that belong to those who were tested positive for Covid-19 are abandoned and starving, with no family to take care of them. When they tested positive, a family at Thiruvallam has to abandon their two pregnant goats, and for them, it was worse than being quarantined. 

The situation went from bad to worse when the goats became sick. “It is a temporary thing, but our world fell apart when my wife and I found out that we are Covid-19 positive. We had to get hospitalised and there was nobody to take care of our goats. My wife’s mother-in-law is the only one home, but she is sick and old. The neighbours were hesitant to come near the house, and even we thought it isn’t fair to ask them to,” says Suresh (name changed).  With no solution in sight, Suresh informed the civic body about his sick goats. 

“They have been with us for the past 2 years and they are family. They got help for now but they are starving because nobody is there to feed them,” laments Suresh, who is one among many in the containment and critical containment zones who are facing the issue. Veterinary Surgeon Kiran Dev MS, associated with the ABC programme of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation screened the goats. “As soon as we came to know about the distress call we visited the goats.

Several animals are going through this plight. We cleaned the goats and they were running a fever. Many peoples are afraid to come close to these animals in fear of contracting the disease. Many think that though the animals are not carriers, coming close to them would be dangerous. Even we had to wear PPE kits before going near the goats,” says Kiran. 

Health standing committee chairman IP Binu said that the civic body has decided to continue looking after animals in the zones. “We have teams under the civic body, part of the ABC programme. They could be deployed to look after such animals left behind by Covid patients,” he says. People For Animal (PFA) Secretary Latha Indira said that the NGO is getting many requests too.

“The situation is grave and the animal husbandry department has failed to come up with a plan for the animals in the critical containment zones. We responded to a couple of calls and even moved one of the pets to a safer location. The government should come up with a more inclusive plan so that every living thing is protected,” says Latha. She suggested setting up a shelter facility. “Our members are ready to go and feed these animals, but we need support from the government,” she added. 
 

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