In a devastating double blow to Arunachal’s rural heartlands, a ferocious Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak has claimed 18 precious Mithuns in Kamba Circle of West Siang district, while Japanese Encephalitis (JE) barrels through pig populations, unleashing chaos on farmers’ livelihoods and cultural lifelines.
The alarm bells rang loud as authorities slammed down an ironclad ban on moving or selling meat from any hooved beasts—Mithuns, pigs, cattle, or sheep—to stem the savage spread. A lockdown quarantine checkpoint now guards Wak village along the Aalo-Kamba-Mechuka Road, sealing off the breach between circles and buying precious time in this frontline fight.
Mithuns, those majestic bovine icons woven into the state’s tribal soul and economic fabric, are reeling from FMD’s blistering assault, a virus that leaps like wildfire among cloven-hoofed creatures. Rallying the troops, the Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Department is leaning hard on volunteers from the Tani Ao Mithun Farmers Welfare Society to fortify defenses and save the survivors.
“It’s spreading like a storm— we can’t let it wipe out our herds,” warned Dr. T. Kamchi, spearheading the crisis squad. “These urgent steps are our shield; Mithuns aren’t just animals, they’re our heritage on the line.”
But the peril doesn’t pause there: JE, the brain-fevering scourge, has dug its claws into pigs starting in Libu Bene village, with infections rippling to neighbors and fatal hits piling up in Gemo Tali—no FMD fallout for Mithuns there, but the fear factor’s off the charts. Lab confirmation from Bengaluru’s ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics seals the grim diagnosis, spurring a blitz of treatments and barriers.
With boots on the ground and resolve unbreakable, the department’s vowing all-out war: Vaccines flowing, vigilance peaking, and that quarantine locked tight till the threat fades. Arunachal’s farmers stand tall, but this livestock lockdown is a stark wake-up—will swift strikes save the swing of survival?
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