Gbarnga — Several dozens of roaming pigs have been slaughtered in Bong County after they were found to be contaminating waters and posing serious health risks to community inhabitants.

A team of inspectors from the Ministry of Internal Affairs assigned in Bong responsible for the cleaning of towns and containment of roaming animals recently embarked on a vigorous inspection exercise in selected towns and villages in two of Bong's 12 districts which led to the killing of over a dozen of roaming pigs in several communities.

The County Inspector of Bong William Kollie told The Informer that the measure was instituted by his office based on persistent complaints from local leaders in some affected towns and villages. They had reported that roaming animals, especially pigs, not being contained by people raising them, were contaminating creeks and running streams used for drinking and other household purposes, especially in communities lacking hand pumps.

The animals are reportedly defecating in wells and running waters which have resulted into the outbreak of water born diseases such as "diarrhea and chloride" in some communities.

Inspector Kollie said despite the many awareness carried out amongst cattle owners in the county, people are not doing much to control their animals by placing them in fence to halt them from creating environmental pollution in various communities.

Kollie said he remains relentless in making sure cattle farmers in Bong adopt good environmental practices and be sensitive to the health consequences when these animals are not properly maintained.

He named Naama, Kollita, Duta and Zaybaye in Zota and Panta districts as communities in which several roaming pigs were recently killed.

The recent exercise that witnessed the slaughtering of dozens of pigs was reportedly predicated upon an outbreak of sore - mainly amongst children, in the town of Naama in Zota district - caused by a strange flies being conveyed by roaming pigs in the area.

According to information gathered from the town and other surrounding villages, the children encountered the sore as a result of the persistent bite they received from the wild flies which is relatively strange to their communities.

"When the flies bite anyone, the bite creates blisters which burst few days later, and turned into real sore that are very painful," one resident narrated. "The children are the main victims as compared to the adults because they are unable to prevent the flies from sitting on them," he added.

The outbreak of the sore reportedly affected the enrollment at the Gborka Kollie Public School in Naama Town. Children with big wounds were no longer going to school as their parents were finding means of providing cure for their sores.

The community clinic in the area inability to respond to the sore out break because of the lack of essential drugs to provide treatment for the sore victims also exacerbated the situation.

Bulk of the habitants of Zota and Panta Districts heavily rely on cattle rearing as their basic source of economic empowerment, but scores of these animals roam the various towns and villages in search of food.