Animal Welfare Board of India note to vet varsity on transporting sick animals
The AWBI in its advisory pointed out that brucellosis is a notifiable disease as per section 4 of PCICDA.
Thiruvananthapuram: The Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) has advised the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University not to transport the infected animals to its campus at Mannuthy, Thrissur, and not to kill them without anaesthesia. This follows a complaint about the university plan to kill 84 cattle that tested positive for brucellosis, a deadly zoonotic disease, two years ago at their Thiruvazhamkunnu cattle farm in Palakkad.
Transporting and killing them without giving anaesthesia would be in apparent violation of the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals (PCICDA) Act, 2009 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960. The AWBI in its advisory pointed out that brucellosis is a notifiable disease as per section 4 of PCICDA. The AWBI criticised the failure of the university to report the incidence for the last two years, and the failure of the Kerala government in notifying the disease and declaring the area as affected so as to prevent, control and eradicate the disease.
AWBI member M.N. jayachandran said that the authorities had failed to take into consideration the risk to the health of workers, including veterinarians and the general public, who consume the unpasteurised milk and products derived from the infected animals. The AWBI has also advised the university to officially report the disease immediately and urged the state government to declare the area as affected.