82
Considering the Civil Veterinary Department has been established now over one year,
it is greatly to be regretted that so little has been done towards the prevention of cattle-dis-
ease in the Punjab; but so long as the Superintendents, North and South Punjab, have to
devote their attention to horse and mule-breeding, and only any spare time they may have, to
cattle, I cannot see that more can be done under this head. Speaking personally, horse and
mule-breeding takes up the whole of my time; and I am certain that if I was ordered to
visit and investigate any outbreak, say, of rinderpest, horse-breeding would suffer. To ex-
emplify what I mean: I am, say, in the Lahore District visiting the various tehsils and
stallion stands, with a view to branding mares; a report is sent to me that rinderpest has
broken out in the Pindigheb tehsil of Rawalpindi District. To investigate that outbreak I
must break up my camp and probably, if I am to do any good, remain in or near Pindigheb
for one month. Now during the whole of that month no horse-breeding work would be
done, no mares branded, no stands inspected; the notices that had prior to the outbreak of
rinderpest been sent to zemindars, etc., of the Lahore, and probably one other district of my
intended visit to brand their mares, would now have to be cancelled, causing great inconveni-
ence to all such zemindars that had promising young mares for branding. These mares they
would now have to keep for one more year before they could get them branded and so breed
from them. Under these circumstances I cannot see how the two works can be carried on by
one officer; the only remedy I can suggest is to appoint another Veterinary Surgeon whose
sole work is cattle-breeding and cattle-disease. Any further remarks on this subject from me
would be out of place in the report.
442. The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, Bombay, has devot-
ed much attention to cattle, and has submitted most interesting notes, not only
under the beading of "Cattle-disease," but also under that of "Cattle-breeding."
443. His investigations, however, only commenced in September 1893;
they therefore embrace only six months of the year under review.
444. He carefully remarks on anthrax, rinderpest, foot-and-mouth
disease, pleuro-pneumonia and charbon symptomatique, and has also noted
on the native methods of treating some of the abovenamed diseases, all of
which information will prove of great use when tabulating particulars that
may be received from various sources.
445. Much useful information was collected in both Upper and Lower
Burma. The following is a summary of cattle-disease in that country. It will
be noticed that Burma is far in advance of other Provinces of India, and I can-
not but bring to notice the good work done by Veterinary Lieutenant Evans,
the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department:—
The mortality from contagious maladies for the year under report is a little higher
than that of the previous year. The mortality for 1892-93 was 24,066 and 1893-94, 26,698.
Of these diseases, anthrax has been the most prevalent and severe; in certain districts the
outbreaks were violent and the mortality ran high. This was particularly the case in the
Akyab District, where 3,643 animals are reported to have succumbed to it. Other districts
which sustained somewhat heavy losses of cattle from this malady are Mergui, Kyaukpyu,
Bassein, Tharrawaddy, Prome and Henzada.
Except in the Bassein District, the outbreaks of cattle plague were not very extensive
and the disease prevailed in a more or less mild form. In Bassein, however, the townships
visited by this scourge suffered severe losses; many hundreds of cattle falling victims to it.
Pegu, Tharrawaddy, and Henzada also had a fair number of cattle carried off by it.
In one or two districts foot-and-mouth disease caused some heavy losses in cattle; this
was notably the case in the Thwegyin District, where 767 animals are reported to have died of
it. Some damage was also done in the Akyab, Henzada, and Bassein districts.
It is hardly to be wondered at that these diseases commit such ravages, when the
many facilities afforded for their propagation are considered. Taking a very common instance,
it is the custom at the end of the working season for owners either to take or send their
cattle to the nearest large grazing grounds, where they are tended by professional herdsmen ;
and it is no exaggeration to say that very many hundreds of animals are often thus congre-
gated. All goes well until one day some animal or animals suffering from some form of
contagious disease is introduced into these large herds, when it simply spreads right through
them; and when the disease happens to be rinderpest, which by the way in such cases fre-
quently spreads with alarming rapidity, not many days elapse before the death-rate of that
part is considerably augmented. The most annoying point about the matter is that, not
infrequently, the disease has done serious mischief before professional advice is sought. Bur-
mese herdsmen, like many other persons who may be in charge of other people's property,
always hope for the best, and do not think too much about the first few deaths on such large
grazing grounds, especially so when many animals are herded together; perhaps, too, some few
deaths may escape observation. When the gravity of the situation is taken in, it is often too late.