The police in Kitgum have launched an investigation into the mysterious deaths of 60 goats belonging to a local farmer, with the deaths occurring shortly after the animals were vaccinated for foot-and-mouth disease.
The goats, owned by Margaret Langoya, a resident of Twon Okun village, Mucwini sub-county, reportedly began showing signs of weakness and dying one by one following a vaccination administered by the Kitgum district veterinary department in late July.
Peter Oyesigye, Kitgum district police commander (DPC), confirmed that police are taking the case seriously. Samples from the dead goats have been collected and sent to the Government Analytical Laboratory in Kampala for testing to determine the exact cause of death.
Oyesigye said they take the case seriously, and will get to the bottom of the cause of death of the goats.
He added that the loss has a severe impact on Langoya’s livelihood, as the goats were both a source of income and a vital part of her family’s well-being. Police are awaiting the laboratory results to determine whether the vaccination was the cause of death and if any negligence or wrongdoing occurred during the process.
When growing up in the 60s, except Diarrhea after eating a piece of bar soap, or death after eating the leaves of poisonous cassava leaves, I do not remember goats being vaccinated.
Otherwise, during the 20-yeat NRA/LRA armed conflict, there was the conspiracy theory that: this nonsense of vaccinating goats and chicken especially in Kitgum and/or Acholi Sub-region, was/is responsible for the widespread of the dehumanizing and debilitating Nodding Disease Syndrome (NDS), after children ate meat from the vaccinated domestic animals.
In other words, the vaccine in the meat had no effect on grownups/adults.