Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): A horse, which is under ‘home quarantine’ in Rajouri district of Jammu since yesterday after traveling to the red zone in Kashmir’s Shopian, was examined by a team of veterinary experts today and found asymptomatic, even as the local administration has decided to wait for the Covid-19 test results of its owner.
Speaking exclusively to NVI, Tehsildar of Thanamandi, Rajouri, Anjuman Anjum Khatak said that he invited a team of veterinary experts to medically examine the horse, who reached Thanamandi area along with his owner late last evening. “The horse was thoroughly examined by a team of doctors who checked his body temperature, tongue, nose feet and skin, etc. They found the horse asymptomatic with no signs of any disease etc,” Khattak said.
He said that the horse is in a cattle shed at Darra area of Thanamandi, the native village of his owner. “The owner of the horse is in an administrative quarantine and his samples were taken immediately after his arrival. The results are expected in a day or two,” the Tehsildar said.
He, however, said that the team of doctors who examined the horse reiterated that the caretakers of the horse should wear proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while taking care of the animal especially while feeding grass or water to the animal.
“This is a rare case since the outbreak of pandemic in J&K,” the Tehsildar said. He said that the veterinary doctors who examined the horse stressed that a distance must be maintained between caretakers and the animal until the report of his owner comes.
“We will not take any chance even though a majority of veterinary experts are sure that a horse can’t be a potential carrier of the virus. But they maintained that if the owner’s test result comes positive for Covid-19, there may be a possibility that the virus may be present on the skin and hair of horse too as he was also travelling along with his owner from Kashmir’s Shopian district,” the Tehsildar said.
The person along with his horse traveled through Mughal Road from the Shopian district of south Kashmir and reached Thanamandi, Rajouri district of Jammu late last evening. The owner was sent to administrative quarantine while the horse was sent to “home quarantine” at a cattle shed where there is no other animal present.
