Mysterious poisoning: Cattle toll touches 71

A pall of gloom descended on the village, as the many families mainly dependent on dairying for their livelihood, have lost major source of sustenance in the mysterious poising incident. The reason is said to be ingestion of chemical waste dumped at cattle grazing grounds at Ottinene.

Kundapur Tahsildar Raju Mogera said that the samples of the carcasses had been sent to forensic labs in Mangalore and Bangalore.

Venkataramana H, who had 20 cattle heads, has already lost 14 and some are showing symptoms of poisoning, which is worrying him further. The village has about 40-45 families and each possess a minimum of two to a maximum of 35 cattle heads.

Hence the post-mortem report of the dead cattle was expected on Monday. The reason of the death of the cattle could be known only after the post-mortem report was received.The 71 heads of cattle, which had died, belonged to 12 families, he said.

Dr Nagaraj and Dr Babanna Poojari, veterinary officers from Byndoor and Hemmadi, after visiting the site on Saturday said the cattle, which were dead and dying, were exhibiting signs of poisoning.

Dr Poojari said that they were administering symptomatic treatment as they did not know what exactly the poison is. “We have conducted post mortem on a few cattle and send the viscera to the forensic laboratory at Mangalore. After our intervention and change of treatment every two hours for various type of poisoning like nitrate, arsenic and cyanide, we have been able to delay the onset of death to some extent, but not prevent it. Only those cattle which were left for grazing at Ottinene grounds are showing these symptoms,'' he said.

Dr Nagaraj said the waste at Ottinene has been burnt using petrol by some miscreants after the news spread and they have not been able to identify the industrial chemical waste. ''We have found saloon waste, animal remains, blades, rubber, plastic etc at the site. At the moment anthrax and Hemorrhagic septicemia have been ruled out,'' he said.