Forty-one peacocks dead in Thar

Published June 13, 2013
Wild peacocks in Thar being administered a vaccine. - File Photo
Wild peacocks in Thar being administered a vaccine. - File Photo

THARPARKAR: Peacocks in Sindh’s Tharparkar district continue to suffer from the fatal ranikhet disease, while the wildlife officials remained unable to prevent the disease from spreading.

Forty-one peacocks have been confirmed dead within a week, while hundreds more continue to suffer from the fatal disease, which continues to spread unabated.

Nine villages of Tharparkar’s Nagarparkar, Mithi and Diplo tehsils are affected by the ranikhet disease, which affects peacocks, according to a team of local journalists.

Eight peacocks were carried off by the lethal disease in Nagarparkar’s Dedveero and Soorachand villages. Meanwhile, the disease carried off two peacocks in the Mithi tehsil’s village Jagge Jo Tarr.

Thirty-one peacocks were confirmed dead in Diplo’s six villages, including 13 in Sujai and four each in Keerlo and Daabri villages.

When a team of journalists arrived in Mazkora village, the wildlife officials fled with four peacocks suffering from the disease in order to hide their incompetence. The villagers told the journalists that the officials had ordered them to bury the dead peacocks, saying that not doing so would result in the disease spreading further.

When contacted, the wildlife department refused to acknowledge that their officials had fled with the sick peacocks.

The villagers also informed the mediapersons that the disease had originally started from the chickens owned by the villagers and was later transmitted to the peacocks.

Peacocks affected with the ranikhet disease experienced dizziness and stiffness before dying.

Regarding the peacocks’ deaths in Thar, the wildlife department maintained that the peacocks were dying in large numbers due to the intense heat and thirst, adding that the ranikhet disease was nonexistent in the desert district of Pakistan’s Sindh province.

Opinion

Editorial

Smog hazard
Updated 05 Nov, 2024

Smog hazard

The catastrophe unfolding in Lahore is a product of authorities’ repeated failure to recognise environmental impact of rapid urbanisation.
Monetary policy
05 Nov, 2024

Monetary policy

IN an aggressive move, the State Bank on Monday reduced its key policy rate by a hefty 250bps to 15pc. This is the...
Cultural power
05 Nov, 2024

Cultural power

AS vital modes of communication, art and culture have the power to overcome social and international barriers....
Disregarding CCI
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Disregarding CCI

The failure to regularly convene CCI meetings means that the process of democratic decision-making is falling apart.
Defeating TB
04 Nov, 2024

Defeating TB

CONSIDERING the fact that Pakistan has the fifth highest burden of tuberculosis in the world as per the World Health...
Ceasefire charade
Updated 04 Nov, 2024

Ceasefire charade

The US talks of peace, while simultaneously arming and funding their Israeli allies, are doomed to fail, and are little more than a charade.