A FATAL PARASITIC INFESTATION IN A HERD OF CATTLE AND 

 GOATS IN AMBOS CAMARINES PROVINCE ' 



By William Hutchins Boynton and Lawrence D. Wharton 



{From the Bureau of Agriculture and the University of the Philippines) 



In January, 1916, W. H. Boynton was sent to Ambos Camarines 

 Province to investigate the cause of the death of a large number 

 of animals on a plantation near the town of Minalabag. These 

 animals were kept for breeding purposes in a large pasture, a 

 part of which was high land and a part low rice-paddy land. 



The herd was composed of 90 animals immunized by the simul- 

 taneous method against rinderpest on March 1, 1915, and of 55 

 animals that had not been immunized against rinderpest. 



The animals that were not immunized were brought from 

 Masbate Island and arrived at the plantation on September 20, 

 1915. The immunized and the nonimmune animals were kept 

 together. 



The owner of the cattle maintained a strict quarantine against 

 outside animals, as there was rinderpest in some of the neigh- 

 boring districts and he was afraid the nonimmune animals would 

 contract the disease. Every evening the cattle were placed 

 under cover, and smudges were burned around this inclosure 

 during the night to keep off mosquitoes, which are very plentiful 

 in that locality. The animals received an abundance of green 

 feed from the low pasture land. On account of the precautions 

 taken against rinderpest infection, both in having a large number 

 of immunized animals and in quarantining against outside 

 animals, and also on account of the care which the animals 

 received, it was expected that they would thrive. 



Practically all the animals were in good condition when they 

 arrived at the plantation. After a time many of them began to 

 lose weight, even with the feed and care which they received, 

 and as the caretaker states, they became thinner and thinner 

 and finally died, although they ate well until just before death. 



A considerable number died during and just after the heavy 

 storms, which indicated that they did not have vitality enough 

 to withstand these storms. 



There were also 60 head of goats on the place, and at the 

 time of Boynton's visit all but 11 had died and one of 



'Reprinted from Phil. Agr. Rev. (1916), 9, 348. 



285 



