The foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak in Dibang Valley is reportedly getting worse and continuing to spread, with hundreds of mithuns reported dead and hundreds more infected.

A team of central experts, state veterinary officials and district administrators launched an intensive containment drive on 8 August, but the outbreak has continued to spread, heavily burdening mithun farmers. Villagers are now seeking immediate deployment of veterinary teams, emergency medicine stocks, vaccination and containment measures, as they say official veterinary support remains inadequate, with shortages of medicines, injections, veterinary kits and staff.

FMD vaccination, which is an important step in controlling the disease, has to be made available across the state. Vaccination camps have to be aggressively conducted in the remotest corners. The mithuns cannot come to the clinics; the state must reach them.

Mithuns are not mere animals. They are an asset to a family and a cultural symbol for a vast majority of the state.