Europe isn't the only place anxious about diseased livestock. Eastern Nepal, too, is worried in the wake of about 100 deaths last week due to an unidentified animal-borne disease in neighbouring Siliguri, 38 km east of Kakarvitta. Bordering towns in east Nepal have banned import of meat and fish from India. Damak Municipality was the first to impose the ban, followed by Ilam, Mechi, Biratnagar, Kakarvitta, Dhulabari, Itahari and Dharan municipalities. Outlets selling imported meat and fish will be fined up to Rs 15,000.
The fears seem to be valid. Nepal lacks facilities to diagnose the blue tongue disease, suspected to have affected animals in Siliguri. For now, Nepalis have to rely on reports of Indian laboratories for identifying the cause of death. Blue tongue is communicable, attacks liver and kidneys and can kill animals within 36 hours. Humans are vulnerable, too, through consumption of contaminated meat, and if not treated properly the disease takes only 36 hours to kill a person.
Hill towns like Ilam have also banned meat from tarai districts like Jhapa and Morang, due to fears that meat and fish could be contaminated due to their proximity to Siliguri. Residents of Jhapa, Sunsari and Morang regularly shop for cheaper goods in Indian towns like Jogbani and Siliguri. The ban has received a mixed response from locals, but meat sellers in Biratnagar sub-metropolis pressurised the local authority to revise its total ban and check imports only. According to the Morang Meat Association, Biratnagar alone consumes 110 quintals of meat products a day, worth Rs 1.7 million.
"There is no need to panic yet," assures Pravin Shakya, meat specialist with Third Livestock Development Project at the Department of Agriculture. The government says that the blue tongue disease has not travelled to Nepal yet, but without laboratory facilities to confirm the disease and a proper mechanism to check import of diseased animals the claim is feeble. Government statistics show that Nepal relies on Indian imports for 90 percent of the buffalo meat and 75 percent of goat meat consumed annually.
