I T I [ around a month left before Eidul Azha, livestock m irkets have begun to spring up offering sacrificial i r mnals for sale. However, this year the authorities need to be extra vigilant about ensuring that no animals infected with lumpy skin disease make their way to the markets. As reported in this paper on Tuesday, a number of infected cows apparently made it to one of Karachi`s livestock markets, though the spokesman for the facility claims the entire consignment, including the sick animals, was returned. However, there are disturbing reports that officials are allowing in livestock without a proper veterinary examination at a number of checkpoints in Karachi. One trader talking to Dawn claimed that the checkpoints have been set up just to mint money and that no vets were present at the spots. Moreover, both provincial authorities and KMC officials are shifting blame where checking of animals is concerned.

While it is true that the vector-borne LSD is not transferred to humans through the consumption of milk and meat of infected animals, the authorities must still ensure that only healthy livestock is brought to cattle markets. Earlier this year, there was a major outbreak of the disease in Sindh, resulting in the public reducing consumption of beef and milk. However, the Sindh authorities claim over 2m cows have been vaccinated against the ailment. Yet with Eidul Azha approaching, hundreds of thousands of cattle heads, goats, sheep and camels are brought to markets countrywide, and it must be ensured that these markets do not become incubators for the disease.

During the earlier outbreak in Sindh, as per one figure around 36,000 cattle had been infected with LSD, while a few hundred died, and farmers who were eking out a living through a few cattle heads were hard hit when their animals fell sick. Therefore, for the health of the public as well as animals, all provincial livestock departments need to ensure that sick animals are not brought to markets.