Assessment of transport stress on cattle travelling a long distance (˜648 km), from Jessore (Indian border) to Chittagong, Bangladesh

Alam, Mahabub; Hasanuzzaman, Md; Hassan, Mohammad Mahmudul; Rakib, Tofazzal Md; Hossain, Md Emran; Rashid, Md Harun; Sayeed, Md Abu; Philips, Lindsay B; Hoque, Md Ahasanul

MaterIals and Methods live Cattle Market (lCM) and the study period Two LCMs in Bangladesh were purposively selected for the study: (1) Benapole LCM (market of origin; the market from where the transport of cattle was started), which is situated in Jessore District (23°11′39.8′ N and 89°04′02.5′ E), about 648 km from Chittagong; and (2) Sagorika LCM (destination market; the market where the travel was ended and cattle were unloaded), which is located within the Chittagong metropolitan city (22°21′31.4′N and 91°46′43.1′ E) (Fig 1) . The Benapole LCM was chosen because of its proximity to the Indian border with southern Bangladesh and the potential for trade of different exotic (imported from India) cattle breeds (Bos indicus) like Hariana, Hallikar, Gir, Ongole and Tharparkar. During the peak season (August to September), just before Eid-Ul-Adha, a big festival for the Muslim community in Bangladesh when people sacrifice animals to satisfy God, between 20,000 and 25,000 cattle are legally or illegally imported each day from India to Bangladesh. 15 Haat days, or trading days, at Benapole LCM run on Saturday and Tuesday of each week. This market is the largest of its kind in the south-western region of Bangladesh. On any given haat day, around 15,000-20,000 cattle are kept on the market, while on average nearly 10,000 cattle are sold. 16 Sagorika LCM trades local cattle as well as Indian cattle, which are transported from the LCM of Benapole in Jessore. The usual size for trading in this market during the peak season (August to September, just before Eid-Ul-Adha) has been estimated to be 15,000-20,000 per day. 17 Although the distance between the markets is quite long for transporting cattle, this long-standing traditional practice of cattle trading exists because of better market price achieved through sales in the Chittagong region. The animals were not immediately sold out but usually stocked at the destination market for two to three days before the sale. The present study was conducted between July and December 2015, where the fieldwork was performed between August and September 2015, which corresponded to the peak season of cattle trade in Bangladesh. Four different single-decker trucks of the same size (body size: length × width × height: 25 feet × 9 feet × 3.5 feet) and from the same vehicle manufacturer (Nitol Tata Company) were used for transporting the animals during the study period. Each trip using one single truck was made at 15-day intervals. The first author of this manuscript was accompanied by the coauthor (TMR), and they travelled by public transport each time in parallel with the selected cattle vehicle from the market of origin to the market of destination. transport management and environment During transportation, the average environmental temperature and humidity were 31°C-33°C and 84-89 per cent during the day, and 26°C-29°C and 78-84 per cent during the night, respectively (Bangladesh Meteorological Department; http://www. bmd. gov. bd). The space allocation for each animal in the vehicle was 8-10 square feet on average per animal. Therefore, the space allocation in the vehicle restricted the animals from lying down, so they remained standing the entire transportation period. The floor of the truck was wooden and the cattle were transported without any bedding materials. The surrounding walls of the vehicles were made of iron. The transportation vehicles did not have ceilings or roof coverings; therefore the cattl