Iraq rattled by snakes on a plain

Jun 01, 2009 at 13:08

Plague of snakes causes panic in Iraq's southern province Nasiriyah, biting cattle and worrying residents.

A plague of snakes has caused panic in Iraq's southern province of Nasiriyah, biting cattle and worrying residents as poisonous reptiles flee their dens in the country's water-deprived marshes.

"We have been surprised in recent days by the unprecedented number of snakes that have fled their habitat because of the dryness and heat," said Wissam al-Assadi, a veterinary officer in Chabaysh town.

"We saw some on roads, near houses and cowsheds. They have attacked cows and buffalo, and farmers have come to us looking for vaccines but we don't have any."

Chabaysh mayor Kadham Malek told the news agency AFP that local farmers have even set up an overnight operations room to guard against snakes attacking their cows.

"Cattle are the only resource we have," he said.

Jabbar Salleh, who farms land near the town, said the snakes had caused huge problems. "I will leave the region if this continues," he said.

Iraq's water reserves dipped to 11 billion cubic metres (385 billion cubic feet) in May, compared with 40 billion cubic metres three years earlier, although rainfall this past winter was normal.

Experts say Iraq faces agricultural disaster this summer if neighbouring Turkey continues to retain waters from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers which have nourished Iraqi agriculture for millennia.

The situation regarding the Euphrates is the most worrying.

Reserves behind Haditha dam in the country's west, the first on the river, were just 1.5 billion cubic metres on May 1, compared with eight billion two years ago.

Iraq says the problem is the many dams Turkey has built over the past 30 years to irrigate its own southeast.

These dams allow Turkey to regulate the flow of rivers according to its needs.