A Correspondent :
Cattle traders in Teknaf upazila here are adopting illegal practice of fattening their cattle heads by feeding pump tablets and other alternative artificial medicines ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha with an aim to do brisk business.
Throughout the year, except two months before the Eid-ul-Azha, cattle owners in rural areas feed their animals with different fodder items including bran, oil-cake, grass and straw; but only before the Eid-ul-Azha, they feed their animals with different harmful medicines with an aim to make them fat and earn handsome profit.
At that time, supply and sale of artificial veterinary medicines and injections increase in local pharmacies. Most of the medicines are smuggled into Bangladesh from neighbouring countries.
Veterinary specialists said these medicines damage kidney and liver function of cattle heads and liquid mass increases inside their bodies. As a result, they become fat within a very short time and are supplied to markets for sale. But, as these medicines mix with the flesh of the sacrificial animals, these can damage human body also and give rise to different complications, the experts opined.
While visiting different cattle markets in the upazila, it was found that cattle traders are buying these harmful medicines randomly from different pharmacies.
Cattle traders Syed Ali of Nayapara village and Ashraf of Moheshkhalia Para under Sadar upazila, said, “We purchase different medicines including Dexamethasone, Dexavet, and B-50 which are imported from Myanmar and then mix those with pump tablets and feed our cattle. Thus, the cattle become fat within a short time and can be sold at high prices in markets. We are doing this only for more profit.”
Some pharmacists said, “We are not informed of the harmful effects of the medicines. Every day, Myanmar nationals come here and sell the medicines to us. We sell those at Tk 1000 to Tk 1500 per 100 pieces.”
A cattle trader Amzad said, “I have been rearing two cows for the last six months. But, for getting more profit, I have been administering fattening tablets to the cows for the last 20-25 days.”
In this connection, concerned section said teams comprising veterinary specialists should be formed in each cattle market to test blood of each cattle ,and if any irregularities are found, the affected cattle should be marked and necessary actions should be taken against accused traders.
Teknaf Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Shah Mozahid Uddin said, “If we get any complaint we will take legal steps. Meanwhile, we are ready to provide police help if local veterinary doctors demand such.”