Poisonous weed, polythene ‘kill’ cows in Madhya Pradesh sanctuary

In the sanctuary in the state’s Agar-Malwa district, which has about 4,200 cows, 52 deaths have been reported since December 1.

Updated on: Dec 28, 2017, 23:14:10 IST

Bhopal, Hindustan Times | By Neeraj Santoshi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

The country’s first cow sanctuary set up by the Madhya Pradesh government has reported cow deaths due to reasons, including lantana weed poisoning, polythene ingestion, and pneumonia.

Eating polythene was cited as a reason behind the increasing cow deaths in the sanctuary in Agar-Malwa district. (HT File)

In a sanctuary, cows are free to move around and graze whereas in a shelter they are kept in an enclosure and fed.

In the sanctuary in the state’s Agar-Malwa district, which has about 4,200 cows, 52 deaths have been reported since December 1.The district administration called a team of veterinary experts from Ujjain to get the matter investigated.

“The vets have taken samples of viscera and blood from the carcasses for detailed analysis into the causes. The samples have been sent to veterinary institutes in Bhopal and Ujjain. In the post-mortem of five cows, veterinary doctors found they had died due to reasons, including eating of polythene and lantana weed poisoning,” district collector Ajay Gupta told HT.

Experts say the lantana camara weed is toxic and causes hepatotoxicity, leading to bovine death. To avoid them, the state forest department and the Indian Grassland and Fodder Research Institute, Jhansi, will help the state government grow different kinds of grasses over 200 hectares in the sanctuary.

The immediate worry for the district administration is that the poisonous weed grows abundantly in the area. “We have decided to remove the toxic weed by excavating the soil with the use of JCB machines. This weed grows here and it is a challenge to stop cows from eating it,” said the district collector.

He said that the deaths of 52 cows in a month was abnormal and all precautions were being taken. “If cows are dying, we have to look into the factors that caused the mortality so that if there is anything major factor that can be prevented, we can check that,” he said.

MP has the highest cattle population in the country, with over 1.96 crore cows, as per the latest livestock survey. The sanctuary, called Kamdhenu Gau Abhyaranya and spread over 472 acres, was inaugurated in September, nine years after CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s announcement of setting it up.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neeraj Santoshi
Neeraj Santoshi is the Chief of Bureau for Hindustan Times in Uttarakhand, where he leads the state reporting team while covering government, politics, environment, wildlife, Uttarakhand High Court, and issues shaping the Himalayan region. With more than two decades in journalism across conflict zones, he has covered politically sensitive regions and environmentally fragile landscapes, and focused on stories that combine public interest with in-depth storytelling. An alumnus of Pune University with a Master’s in Communication Studies, he has reported extensively from Jammu & Kashmir (2003-2010), Madhya Pradesh (2010 to 2018 ) and Uttarakhand (Since 2018), covering subjects ranging from insurgency, elections and governance to wildlife conservation, mining, climate change, agriculture, human rights and social justice. He has covered politics and legislative assemblies of both Jammu & Kashmir and Madhya Pradesh over more than a decade. Before taking over as Chief of Bureau in Uttarakhand, he served as Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times in Madhya Pradesh and earlier reported for both Hindustan Times and The Indian Express in Jammu & Kashmir, where he covered state politics, environment and insurgency-related developments. Over the years, his stories have focused on environmental degradation, wildlife, illegal mining, governance and the changing social fabric of Himalayan states and Central India. He is particularly interested in long-form explanatory journalism, and stories that explore the intersection of ecology, conservation, governance and society. Outside the newsroom, Neeraj enjoys reading widely on neuroscience, consciousness studies, Artificial Intelligence and quantum physics, with a special interest in Kashmiri Tantric Shaivist traditions. He is also passionate about wildlife, mountaineering and the Himalayas, interests that continue to inform his reporting and deepen his understanding of the region he covers.Read More

Home/Cities/Bhopal News/Poisonous Weed, Polythene ‘kill’ Cows In Madhya Pradesh Sanctuary