YANBU, 10 December 2007 — Livestock owners in Yanbu are calling on the Ministry of Agriculture for help as more camels die from what is thought to be contaminated fodder.
Nayer Al-Refaie, a camel breeder in Yanbu, told Arab News that three more of his camels died on Saturday. Five of his camels died a few days earlier.
“I lost three of my camels on Saturday and only 12 have been left. When are the officials going to do something about this?” he said, adding that he has tried arranging for a vet from the local Agriculture Ministry office to visit his herd.
“They told me the vet was in Jeddah because a relative had died,” he said, adding that he thinks the ministry is just making excuses.
Arab News reported yesterday how over 20 camels have died in Yanbu after eating contaminated fodder and that the Ministry of Agriculture has failed to deploy vets to deal with the problem. The fodder is thought to have originated at a fodder market in Yanbu and was being sold at a lower price.
Ibrahim Samman, head of the Ministry of Agriculture branch in Yanbu, told Arab News that he would arrange a vet to investigate the deaths.
However, no vets have turned up so far. Samman said the only vet on call was in a village far from Yanbu investigating a case of bird flu.
