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FAO / RINDERPEST
STORY: FAO / RINDERPEST
TRT: 3:12
SOURCE: FAO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: JULY 2010, PADUKKA REGION, KANDY, WELISARA, SRI LANKA; OCTOBER 2010 ROME, ITALY
FILE / JULY 2010, PADUKKA REGION, WESTERN SRI LANKA
1. Med shot, dairy farmer W. Pathmasiri Walpola distributes hay to cows in stalls
2. Wide shot, Walpola distributes hay
3. Close up, cow eating
4. Close up, Walpola speaking on camera and walking through stall
5. Med shot, cows in stall
6. Wide shot, Walpola pours water into bucket with cows standing nearby
7. Med shot, 2nd farm in same area, AND dairy farmer Tharanga Habarakada milking cow
8. Med shot, cows standing around near stalls
9. Wide shot, Tharanga Habarakada carrying canister of milk out of stall
10. Close up, cow’s face
ARCHIVAL PHOTO / COURTESY G.R. THOMPSON
11. Zoom out, black and white 1890’s photograph of two men surrounded by dead cows during rinderpest epidemic
FILE / 2 JULY 2010 / INSTITUTE OF CONTINUOUS EDUCATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH, KANDY, SRI LANKA
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Ranjani Hettiarachchi, Deputy Director, Animal
Health Division of the Department of Animal Production:
“In the past, when rinderpest was wiping out many animals in many countries, it was described by farmers as a disease which caused the animals to cry, purge and die.”
13. Med shot, veterinarians listening to Hettiarachchi’s lecture
14. Wide shot, audience listening to Hettiarachchi
15. Close up, pen writing notes on paper
FILE / VACCINATION CAMPAIGN / KENYA 1980
16. Close up, technician outdoors filling syringe.
17. Med shot, technician with syringe walks over to cattle in pen and begins to give injections
18. Med shot, two animal health experts observe vaccinations
19. Close up, technician fills syringe
FILE / JULY 2010 / KURUGALA, PADUKKA, WESTERN SRI LANKA
20. Med shot, veterinary investigators on Walpola’s farm recording cattle’s location by satellite positioning device
21. Med shot, veterinary investigators looking at notes
22. Close up, taking notes
23. Wide shot, farmer and veterinary investigators prepare cow for blood test
24. Med shot, vet investigator with notebook looks into stall
25. Wide shot, farmer and vet investigators with cows in stall
FILE / JULY 2010 / VETERINARY INVESTIGATION CENTRE, WELISARA, SRI LANKA
26. Med shot, technician in laboratory carrying vials
27. Close up, row of vials
28. Wide shot, technician with vials
29. Close up, technician’s hands putting label on vial
30. Med shot, technician placing vial in holder
31. Close up, microscope
32. Med shot, technician sitting at microscope
FILE / JULY 2010 / PADUKKA REGION, WESTERN SRI LANKA
33. Wide shot, Ajith Habarakada feeding fresh greens to cows
34. Med shot, one of Habarakada’s sons carrying a load of fresh greens
35. Med shot, cows eating greens
36. Med shot, Harabakada’s son puts milk canister in vehicle
37. Med shot, Harabakada’s son drives away in vehicle
FILE / 13 OCTOBER 2010 / MEETING OF RINDERPEST EXPERTS AT FAO HEADQUARTERS, ROME, ITALY
38. Wide shot, meeting of experts
39. Med shot, experts in audience
40. Med shot, experts on dais
41. Med shot, experts in audience
42. Wide shot, dais
FILE / KENYA 1980 / RINDERPEST FIELD ACTIVITIES
43. Close Up, cow
44. Pan right, from veterinarian with stethoscope to other animal health experts talking
45. Med shot, veterinarian with stethoscope examining cow
46. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Juan Lubroth, Chief, Animal Health Service, UN Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“By having had a good vaccine and eradicating rinderpest, I think, from a food security point of view, this is a tremendous accomplishment.”
FILE / KENYA 1980
47. Various shots, man herding cattle
48. Med shot, long-horn cattle
FILE / DATE UNKNOWN / NIGER
49. Various shots, man walking alongside cattle
FILE / JULY 2010 / PADUKKA REGION, SRI LANKA
50. Wide shot, farmer hoists water buffalo calf over fence while wife and daughter watch
51. Med shot, two women with baby look out from doorway
For dairy farmer Pathmasiri Walpola keeping cattle in the Padukka region of Sri Lanka has been his main source of income since the age of 15.
Walpola says his dairy business has earned him enough income to build a house and send his three children to school.
Not long ago, one of the greatest threats to dairy farmers here was Rinderpest, the fast-moving cattle plague that has triggered three major epidemics in Sri Lanka in the past century.
For millennia Rinderpest was dreaded worldwide. It repeatedly swept through Asia, Africa and Europe, killing 80-100 percent of infected animals in a matter of days.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Ranjani Hettiarachchi, Deputy Director, Animal
Health Division of the Department of Animal Production:
“In the past, when Rinderpest was wiping out many animals in many countries, it was described by farmers as a disease which caused the animals to cry, purge and die.”
But in recent decades, close international coordination and ground breaking vaccine technology led to unprecedented progress against the disease.
No one has seen a case of Rinderpest anywhere in the world since 2001.
In 2010, cattle in the Padukka region became among the last animals in the world to undergo testing for remaining traces of the Rinderpest virus under a global campaign to eradicate the disease, coordinated since 1994 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
The testing was required to confirm that the virus was gone from all but a few laboratory samples worldwide, making Rinderpest only the second disease, after smallpox, to be eradicated thanks to human efforts.
For dairy farmer Ajith Habarakada, that’s welcome news. He says any disease capable of wiping out his herd would be a catastrophe, not only for him, but for his sons, who are learning traditional farming techniques handed down from one generation to the next.
The eradication process was built on years of close collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal Health, other institutional partners, governments, communities and key donors like the European Union. It was only by working together, that they were finally able to outrun a disease that knew no borders.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Juan Lubroth, Chief, Animal Health Service, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO):
“By having had a good vaccine and eradicating Rinderpest, I think, from a food security point of view, this is a tremendous accomplishment.”
Even as they recognize their accomplishment, Rinderpest experts are thinking about the next step. They are sharing what they’ve learned about the disease with other veterinarians, researchers, governments and people who work with livestock and wildlife.
Their main objective now is to improve research, disease monitoring and control, and public awareness, to use what they know to improve animal health and human well-being.
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