(ERGO) – Large numbers of sheep and other animals have been dying of disease in the rural areas around Buhodle town in Togdheer region over the past two months, according to reports from herders and veterinarians.
Abdirashid Raabbi, a local vet, said he had counted the carcasses of 1,800 animals, mostly sheep, in a survey he made of 18 villages including Horufadhi, Dhilaalo, Xadhadhan, Banyaal, Sarmaan, and Dandan.
Raabbi said the animals appeared to have died from various viral diseases.
The local pastoralists had not been contacting veterinary experts to report the cases and he thought many animals had died from treatable diseases.
Mohamed Adan, a pastoralist in a remote area 35 km north-east of Buhodle, told Radio Ergo that 60 goats from his herd of 150 had died since the beginning of the year.
He said he did not know the cause.
One of the worst affected places is Sool-joogto. The village commissioner, Mohamed Said Abdi, said many livestock had died there. He described the symptoms he had seen, “The animals cough and mucus oozes from its eyes and nostrils. Some of them also suffer from diarrhoea before they die.”
Mohamed Ali, a pastoralist in Dhilaalo, said he had put his livestock taken into their pen when they were healthy in the evening only to find some of them dead the next morning.
He said these diseases were affecting most herding families in his area.
