(ERGO) – Abdikani Sheikh Elmi lost 98 of his goats a month ago after applying veterinary chemicals to his herd to get rid of ticks. He had not diluted the liquid according to the instructions and the strength of the dose killed almost all his animals.
“I heard strange noises coming from where the goats were after half an hour of putting the medicine on them. I went back to check it out and I saw all the goats lying dead except two,” Abdikani told Radio Ergo.
He had mixed the chemical with the amount of water he thought would be enough to treat all of his goats and sprayed it on them.
Such cases of lack of knowledge of the correct way to use veterinary medicines are far from uncommon in this part of Somalia. This has led to the deaths of large numbers of livestock.
Radio Ergo’s reporter in Dhusomareb took a picture of the bottle of the chemical used and showed it to a member of the regional veterinary association, Suleiman Salah. The drug in question was Diazinon, prescribed to deal with external parasites. The drug was introduced to Somalia in late 2015 replacing other drugs that had been phased out.
According to the Suleiman, many herders were not aware of the correct way to dilute the medicine. He advised pastoralists to make sure they got someone else to read the instructions if they could not read themselves.
Abdikani admitted that he had no knowledge of the correct dosage to use. “The fact that the drug was in a small plastic bottle and the goats were very many was the basis of my measurement. I did not bother to know if the drug was to be used in a small quantity or not,” he said.
In May, Abdi Farah Ahmed from Gal-qoryale village, 75 km from Dhusamareb, used the same chemical without diluting it properly and lost 100 of his 120 goats. He had borrowed the medicine from his neighbour who bought it from a local pharmacy.
Abdi’s livelihood selling goats in Guriel market has suffered and his family is now getting support from relatives as he is unable to provide enough for them.
Suleiman told Radio Ergo he knew of three similar cases over the past three months in remote villages in Guriel district and in Balliad location, 50 km from Dhusamareb.
