Cattle breeder loses 151 animals to floods

JERTIH - Cattle breeder Hashim Abdul Latif, 65, lost 151 of his livestock in the ongoing Terengganu floods.

The animals were washed away by the swollen Sungai Keluang, leaving him to suffer losses estimated at RM600,000.

Hashim, of Kampung Tembila, said only 14 head of cattle were saved as they got caught among Nipah palms and have since been moved to higher ground in boats.

He described the floods as the worst he had experienced, saying the floodwaters rose to a height of three metres and the current was swift.

"In past incidents, the floodwaters only rose to half a metre,” he said, adding that this time it was a sea of water where his cattle pens once stood.

Hashim told Bernama he had over 200 head of cattle, including calves.

"Some of the cattle that he lost cost over RM10,000 each,” he said.

Hashim had taken up cattle breeding 12 years ago with 15 head of cattle, and also cultivates watermelon and sweet potato.

The floods had not spared hybrid chicken breeder Mohd Fahmi Mohd Nasir, 34, either. He claimed to have lost 1,000 chickens valued at almost RM13,000 in Kampung Pengkalan Sentul.

He said the chickens, kept at two coops, drowned when the floodwaters rose to one metre.

"All the chickens, aged between 30 and 40 days, were ready for the market,” he told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Besut District Veterinary Services officer Syahidatul Jamaliah A Bakar said that as of yesterday, 250 reports had been received from poultry and livestock breeders in the district on their animals affected by the floods.

"We do not rule out the possibility of more breeders lodging reports,” she said. - BERNAMA