Fighting Foot and Mouth Disease, the Mittabagilu way

Belthangady, Nov 01: They are on a mission. They trek the hills and walk down the valley in Mittabagilu village, visiting every house with cattle.

In their fight against the ‘Foot and Mouth disease,’ it is not an easy task for them to administer vaccination to the cattle in this small village in Belthangady Taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, situated on the foothills of Western Ghats.

The team comprising vaccinator Monappa Gowda, Kusuma, and Sharada has already covered 100 houses in Mithabagilu village vaccinating about 400 cattle.

“Our target is to vaccinate 1,000 cattle in Mittabagilu village. It is a good initiative by the government, and we have received a good response from the public too. The vaccination details are linked to the ear tag of the cattle,” Mittabagilu Milk Producers Union CEO Monappa Gowda told The Canara Post.

“Many people do not know much about the campaign initiated by the government. When we visit houses we give a small talk about the programme. People immediately understand its importance and agree for vaccination,” he added.

Since the vaccination is free of cost and as they know the importance of vaccination, people do not oppose it.

Officials aim to administer the vaccination to 2.38 lakh cattle and swine.