23 Jan 2020

Tragedy struck a family in Khuis on Wednesday when a strange disease wiped the entire kraal of 150 small stock.

Mr Motsaapene Sechudi, a pensioner, whose livelihood depended on the small stock was left reeling from the shock after the deadly disease ravaged his stock which constituted 78 dorper and damara sheep, and 65 Boer goat at Moselewapula cattle post. 

The cattle post is located just on the fringes of Lobu Small Stock Farm, which lies about 30 kilometres North of Khuis. 

When BOPA visited the farm, Mr Sechudi was burning the carcasses. He said the strange disease hit shortly after he left his farm for a week. 

Mr Sechudi who was outside the country when the misfortune hit, explained that he had left his kraal under the care of his neighbour, Mr Kakanyo Mereyabone as it was practice to leave property under the care of the other farmer when one travelled.

In an interview, Mr Mereyabone said he noticed a pungent smell in Mr Sechudi’s reservoir and reported to Mr Sechudi’s partner Susan Visage who was at Khuis.

He said he suspected the smell to be that of dead butterflies. However, when he checked the reservoir he found a few dead butterflies on Wednesday last week.

The partner informed him that Mr Sechudi would come and deal with the matter upon his return. 

On Thursday, after he had penned the small stock into Sechudi’s kraal, he heard bleats of a lamb in the bush nearby.

He went to collect it to join others, but when he got there he found a lamb and a sheep which was weak and having difficulty moving. 

However, he managed to pen it to the kraal and when he arrived at the kraal, he found four other sheep exhibiting the same symptoms which he reported to Visage.

The following day, He said, he found seven sheep dead and six other showing the same symptoms while the rest of the flock appeared normal. He said when the owner returned to the cattle post he washed the reservoir. 

“When I washed the tank, I found a rotten genet (tshipa) floating in the reservoir of the saline water which we mix with treated water in another tank. we get this water from the village to dilute the water,” said Sechudi.

After cleaning the tank, he began to give his flock portable water only but it gradually began to exhibit the same signs with each day registering more deaths. He called for help and veterinary doctors came from Tsabong

He was waiting to hear the veterinary doctor’s findings and then pack his bags to return back to the village as he had nothing left.

Meanwhile all of Mereyabone’s flock which is also estimated to be over100 is not affected as they used separate reservoirs and separate pasture. 

However two of his sheep are down and he is also waiting for the doctor’s findings to ascertain what the problem was. 

Meanwhile, Tsabong veterinary Services office took blood samples and meat samples from the carcasses to investigate what could have caused their death. Ends