Foya Statutory District Superintendent and other local authorities are allegedly being accused as prime suspects in the overnight butchering of 36 cows that were discovered dead last Thursday, July 6.
But every effort made by this paper in reaching Foya’s Superintendent Clarence Sandie to ascertain his and others’ response to the allegation levied against them by some residents in Kelima Bendu Town, proved futile up to press time today.
According to state broadcaster (ELBC), early this week, the residents of Kelima Bendu Town accused their superintendent of being the first person they allegedly saw butchering one of the dead cows, followed by other local authorities, before they took advantage of the situation but up to date, there has been no arrest by the police.
Kelima Bendu is situated 296 kilometers northwest of Monrovia and pinned 10 kilometers and 16 kilometers away from the Republics of Sierra Leone and Guinea, respectively.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Ministry is reporting that it has deployed animal scientists who are investigating the cause(s) of death of the cows under the coordinated inter-governmental ONE HEALTH PLATFORM.
The platform comprises the Ministries of Agriculture and Health, along with the National Public Health Institute, Environmental Protection Agency, and Forestry Development Authority.
“After the scientific determination of the mortality cause(s), the full findings will be released to the public,” the release stated.
Thus far, there has been no report of dead cattle being discovered in other parts of Lofa or other counties and agricultural animal health practitioners have stepped up surveillance of herds of cows and slaughterhouses across the country.
It calls on the public to report unexplained deaths of cattle in their communities to nearby health posts and MOA’s field officers for timely responses.
