35 wild goats die of animal disease at Kirthar National Park

JAMSHORO: At least 35 wild goats died of a highly contagious animal disease, PPR, at Kirthar National Park, ARY News reported on Sunday.

Sindh Wildlife Protection Agency has taken notice of the deaths of wild goat. Deputy Conservator Hyderabad Wajid Shaikh has confirmed death of 35 Ibex owing to disease.

“The samples of the animals will be taken and sent to laboratories in Karachi, Islamabad, Tando Jam and Lahore to establish the cause of deaths of animals,” Wildlife official said.

Deputy Conservator wildlife has said that a letter also written to the Livestock Department for vaccination of animals.

According to earlier reports, over 100 wild goats at Kirthar National Park have been infected by the disease. The Wildlife Department workers shifting the ailing animals to another place.

Experts said that the wild goats have been infected by the Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) disease and stressed for vaccination of the animals.

“At first, the nose and eyes of the animal affected by the deadly disease and the ailing animal dies within three to four days,” sources said.

Around 100 wild goats were died in an outbreak of the PPR disease at Kirthar National Park in year 2010, officials said.

The PPR, also known as sheep and goat plague, is a highly contagious animal disease affecting small ruminants. Once introduced, the virus can infect up to 90 percent of an animal herd, and the disease kills anywhere from 30 to 70 percent of infected animals. The PPR virus does not infect humans.

The disease, first described in 1942, since than it has spread to large regions in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Today, more than 70 countries have confirmed PPR within their borders, and many countries are at risk of the disease.

The park is spread over an area of 0.7 million acres in Jamshoro-Malir districts of Sindh and housing more than 500 wild species.

According to a survey conducted in year 2002-03, the Sindh Ibex population in the part was around 14,000 and the population was showing an increase every year.