Twenty-two cows were found dead in a shelter in Kachhla area of Badaun district here on Sunday. A team of the Indian Biological Sciences and Research Institute (IBRI) was rushed to the spot to ascertain the cause of deaths.
According to Mukesh Verma, the caretaker of the cattle shelter, the cows fell sick in the afternoon, within an hour after they were given fresh bajra leaves with fodder.
“We immediately informed the police and local authorities. But by the time they reached, 22 cows were already dead,” he said, adding that the shelter had 76 cows.
“Around 7 pm on Sunday, we received information that 22 cows had died and reached the ‘gaushala’ with a team of doctors. We provided treatment and managed to save the remaining 54 livestock that was also not well,” said DK Singh, district magistrate, Badaun.
He said after post-mortem examination and testing of food and water samples from the spot, the IBRI team had prima facie come to the conclusion that the cattle died due to nitrate poisoning.
“IBRI experts found that the bajra leaves in the fodder given to the cows contained a very high amount of nitrogen, which led to the deaths,” said Singh, adding that the samples collected from the site had been sent for further investigations.
{{/usCountry}}“IBRI experts found that the bajra leaves in the fodder given to the cows contained a very high amount of nitrogen, which led to the deaths,” said Singh, adding that the samples collected from the site had been sent for further investigations.
{{/usCountry}}On July 14, the UP government had suspended eight officers in Ayodhya and Mirzapur districts, after cows were found dead at state-run shelters.
Subsequently, the state government also announced that it would give Rs 30 on a daily basis for each cattle for the fodder, if the owners were not using them for commercial purposes.
On the instructions of UP chief minister, the plan was being implemented as a pilot project in some regions of the Bundelkhand. The authorities here, however, said there was no dearth of funds to provide fodder to the livestock in shelters.