Phurpa Lhamo | Wangdue

The recent video clip of a cow limping with stomach and rectum injuries that went viral occurred in Ridha village of Dangchu gewog, Wangdue.

While gewog livestock extension official treated the animal for more than two hours, the cow died on September 6.

But villagers of Ridha gewog said it is not an isolated case.

Farmers in Dungdu Nyelsa and Nobding have been losing their cattle to wild animals, mostly to wild dogs for the past few months.

According to the chiwog tshogpa Rinzin, the chiwog alone had lost more than 18 cattle to wild dogs.

He added that the chiwog witnessed more wildlife predation this year.

“There were cases in the past but this year, it has been happening frequently. The attacks started around May this year.”

Tshogpa Rinzin alone lost four cows to wild dogs.

He said that the most recent incident was reported on September 5, where wild dogs attacked two cattle.

“My neighbour lost four calves. Another lost two at a time. The villagers in Ridha have lost at least two animals to the wild dogs here,” tshogpa Rinzin said.

The gewog livestock extension has been treating the animals as soon as it was reported to the gewog. As of September 7, they are treating four cattle.

Dangchu gewog livestock extension officer Dawa Tshering said most animals attacked by wild dogs cannot survive as the wild dogs attacked the rectum and the intestines. “We have received a lot of cases this year.”

In the last two months, 15 cases of animal predation were reported to the livestock extension. “There isn’t much we can do, but we focus on treatment and when the farmers call us, we try to go immediately and attend to the animal.”

Tshogpa Rinzin said farmers even look after the cattle during the day now.

“In the past, most cattle were left on the road freely and left on their own to return home. But now with the wild life conflict, people even herd the cattle.”

The chiwog has about 90 households.

Edited by Tashi Dema




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