Fattening cattle with harmful hormones
It was around noon. Only a day remained before Eid-ul-Adha. People all around were busy bringing sacrificial animals from the cattle markets. Suddenly I saw a small crowd on a street of our ward. A big cow suddenly sat down, it was having respiratory problem. The cow was bought from Agargaon market. It cost taka one lac and five thousand. Immediately the owner of the cow started nursing the cow. It was a hot day. So the cow was showered with water by a pipe. Air supply was ensured by installing a stand fan and a shade with polythene was also arranged on one side of the street where the cow was struggling for life. By the afternoon the cow’s condition deteriorated and a vet was called in who gave the poor animal an injection and some oral medicines. But the cow did not improve rather it was collapsing very fast. Finally the cow died. Later it was understood that the cow was injected with poisonous hormones which caused liver and kidney failure.
Many more cows reportedly died under similar circumstances as they were injected with hormones. Would the authorities do the needful for preventing the use of harmful hormones?
Professor M Zahidul Haque
SAU, Dhaka
