A mobile court in Sundarganj upazila of Gaibandha has fined a cattle owner and six butchers for slaughtering a sick cow and selling its meat while the area faces an anthrax outbreak, Barta24 reports. The meat was seized and buried because of the risk to public health.
The drive was carried out on the morning of Tuesday, 29 September at the home of the cow's owner, Md Rafiqul Islam, in North Sahabaz village of Sarbananda union, by upazila assistant commissioner (land) and executive magistrate Ahrab Al Akash with officials of the Department of Livestock Services. Once it was confirmed that a sick cow had been slaughtered, the owner was fined Tk 10,000.
Acting on information from the owner, the court then fined six butchers from markets across the upazila, in Bamandanga, Sundarganj municipality, Ramvadra and Ramganj, for slaughtering animals without a medical certificate from the livestock department: five were fined Tk 2,000 each and one Tk 1,000. Upazila veterinary surgeon Dr Md Mozammel Haque was present.
Upazila livestock officer Dr K M Iftekharul Islam said courtyard meetings have been held in villages for two months to make cattle owners and butchers aware, yet many still slaughter sick cattle and sell the meat. With anthrax now present in Sundarganj, mobile courts have been stepped up to warn them, he said.
Magistrate Ahrab Al Akash said the drive followed a tip-off, the allegation was found true, and the owner and butchers were fined under the animal slaughter law. The report is by Barta24's Gaibandha correspondent.
Photo: Ferdous / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Barta24
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