(ERGO) – Pastoralists in Rabdhure and Elbarde in southern Somalia’s Bakool region are complaining about an unidentified disease that has been killing their goats and camels since May.
Nasro Abdi Mohamed, a goat herder in Aato village, said she lost 24 of her 120 goats over three weeks. She described the goats as having fever and being unable to walk and dying quickly within 24 hours of falling sick.
“Pastoralists provide for their families from the sale of their livestock’s milk and meat. But now everyone fears the disease, no one is buying camel and goat products,” she said.
Nasra has stopped giving her children milk or meat as well. Instead she said she is buying them fish and powdered milk using money she saved from the sale of some goats before the disease outbreak.
Nasra said she had lost 60 camels to drought between 2017 and 2020. This was yet another blow to her livelihood.
Ali Diriye Ali, a camel herder in El-magad, said he lost six of his 10 camels to the disease at the end of May. He is worried that his remaining camels and 150 goats could get infected.
“We counted on the camels for milk since the goats don’t have enough milk due to the prolonged drought. Some of the people have lost their entire herd of livestock to this disease,” he said.
Ali said the market has stalled due to fear of the disease and he has not been able to sell any animals for the last three weeks.
Ahmed Yussuf Arab, a veterinarian in Yed district where the disease is concentrated, told Radio Ergo the pastoralists are using antibiotics that they think might help the sick animals. He himself visited affected villages and described the symptoms of some of the infected animals as bleeding from the nose and the rectum.
The livestock ministry in South West state conducted a survey in Rabdhure and Elbarde but is still working to identify the disease before being able to implement treatment and control measures.
The ministry coordinator, Sulub Ali Lohos, told Radio Ergo they have recorded the deaths of 233 camels in the villages they visited and that the ministry has determined that the disease is spreading to other animals.
