Mahusekwa villagers in Marondera have warned Harare residents against buying beef from unregistered abattoirs and butcheries who are reportedly flocking the area to buy sick or sometimes dead cattle infected by anthrax.
Abattoir owners recently came under fire from both government and the general public after pictures of sick cattle being loaded into an abattoir truck made rounds on social media.
Mahusekwa villagers who are into cattle farming told 263Chat how they have been losing cattle on a daily basis due to anthrax adding that they are nolonger consuming beef due to the outbreak.
“You eat beef in Harare because you don’t know the real situation here. Cattle are dying daily, when the situation was bad, you could wake up only to find five or six cattle lying down in the kraal.
“Butchery owners would then come, and sometimes dig it up, skin it and carry the meat to Harare, that is the meat you are eating in butcheries,” said one of the farmer who referred to himself as Chihota.
Taurai Masere, another cattle farmer who is only left with one cattle out of 27 said that he is frustrated worse that there is no one who is helping them and giving them knowledge on steps to take when find your cattle dying.
“It was so devastated to watch my cattle dying, i had invested everything.
“If i notice a sick cattle, I now call the butchery owners who come to buy, they do not pay much but at least i get to recover something to feed my family,” said Masere.
He added that some of butchery owners used to come and ask them to show where they had buried their cattle, then dig it up and skin the meat for sale in Harare.
“We had a buyer with a yellow bus, and another one with a blue truck who only wanted dead cattle because they said it was cheap and profitable, but these days they buy those ones in the early stage of sickness,” added Masere.
Anthrax is a life-threatening infectious disease caused by bacteria that normally affects animals, especially ruminants such as cattle, but being a bacteria, it is easily treatable with antibiotics if detected in time.
Zimbabwe usually experience anthrax outbreaks during the rainfall season because rains wash away the top soil and expose spores that can remain dormant in the soil for over 40 years.
Livestock, particularly cattle, take up anthrax bacteria while grazing on contaminated land. People get infected when they handle or eat anthrax-infected meat.
During this season, anthrax outbreaks have been recorded in Gokwe, Nkayi, Gutu, Bikita, Marondera, Mazowe, Chegutu, Makonde and Sanyati.
In Makonde, there was an unconfirmed report of one person having died while 64 were hospitalized after eating beef from infected cattle.
Acting director for the Division of Veterinary Field Services Dr Wilmot Chikurunhe said anthrax was being detected in traditional outbreak areas and not affecting the whole districts.
“Cattle owners in anthrax areas should ensure their cattle are vaccinated against the disease once a year before the rain season.
“The department comes in to prevent massive outbreaks, but the primary responsibility for disease prevention lies with the owner,” said Chikurunhe.
He urged cattle farmers to dispose carcasses of cattle in a manner that does not leave the bacteria exposed to air.
The best method is to burn the carcasses in a pit, then bury the ashes.
