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4. Working Of the department.—The staff, as general routine work
periodically inspected all stables within their respective jurisdictions
for detection of the scheduled equine diseases under the Glanders and
Farcy Act. They also attended to outbreaks of contagious disease
amongst cattle and performed preventive inoculation where required.
They also inspected the licensed cattle byres, gowkhanas of Calcutta
Corporation, as well as the cattle market at Kidderpore, Goabagan and
Chitpur, to enquire into outbreaks of cattle disease and to instruct
cattle owners regarding the better care and management of their
animals on improved hygienic methods. During the latter part of the
year their services were required for the Cattle Census work in the
Calcutta Municipal area under orders of Government.
5. Scheduled equine diseases.—It may, in some respects, be looked
upon as a very fortunate feature of the year's work of this section that
very few cases of glanders, farcy, surra, etc., were detected amongst
equines. This might be interpreted as an indication of the more or
less permanent suppression of these diseases from the preventive
measures adopted by Government through this department, were it
not for the fact, that all such pests are very whimsical in their
appearance and periodic in their manifestation or spread from house
to house. There were only four seizures under the Act this year, out of
which only two proved on testing to be diseased. These were destroyed
under previsions of the Act, the others being released as "Free." There
were no cases of surra or epizootic lymphangitis during the year. No
other outbreaks of any infective disease amongst horses were reported.
6. Bovine contagious diseases.—Regarding contagious diseases
amongst bovines, the year under review subscribed almost equally with
equine diseases in numbers. Rinderpest appeared in some places only
in rather a mild form, but the outbreaks were successfully controlled
by immediate attendance and timely inoculations by the Inspectors.
Preventive inoculations were primarily requisitioned by the Alipore
Jail, Calcutta Corporation Gowkhanas, Embarkation Supply Depot,
Howrah Municipal citizens, and some other private persons of Calcutta
and suburbs; while serum was obtained by the Calcutta Pinjrapole
Society, Howrah Municipality and other bodies for inoculating their
own cattle by their own veterinary officers. Our Inspectors performed,
by the Serum Alone Method, 552 inoculations against rinderpest in
11 outbreaks, against 1,401 inoculations of the previous year.
7. Sale Of sera and vaccines.—There was a total private sale of
6,600 doses of Rinderpest Protective Serum including quantities used
by the Glanders Inspectors in their
work. In
addition, a small
quantity of Mallein, Tuberculine, Black Quarter Serum and Aggressin
were sold to private persons. The sale proceeds of sera and vaccine
realised during the year, together with the inoculation fees, amounted
to Rs. 1,526-10-0 against Rs. 6,354-10-0 of last year. This fluctuation
may be ascribed to the fewer number of outbreaks and the consequent
decreased demand for inoculation this year, and also to non-realisation
of certain bills from some local bodies—who claim exemption of the
payment of the cost of serum under the recent orders of Government
permitting free supply of sera to recognised district boards, etc.
8. Inspection of Ports and horse ships.—As in the past, during
the period when the Remount Depot was closed, the services of this
department were requisitioned to inspect any imported animals under
the Glanders and Farcy Act, when vessels arrived with horses on board.