QUETTA: Several domestic animals have died in Balochistan’s Kech district after eating fish, local residents reported on Monday.
According to media reports, small fish locally known as Kashuk or Keto, supplied from Gwadar to the wider Makran region, were recently gutted and their intestines fed to chickens and cats. Soon after, the animals reportedly died.
Residents alleged that marine pollution had contaminated the fish, making them fatal for pets. Chickens, cats, and dogs that consumed the fish reportedly died almost immediately.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Pakistan, however, rejected claims that Gwadar’s waters are polluted. The organization explained that fish cannot become poisonous from clean waters, but they may turn toxic after consuming harmful algae, which could explain the animal deaths.
WWF Pakistan’s Technical Advisor, Muhammad Moazzam Khan, added that contamination during transport or storage could also have spoiled the fish. “If the fish intestines had gone stale, they could have harmed domestic animals,” he said
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Khan stressed that there is no risk in eating Gwadar sardines, which continue to be exported from Pakistan in large quantities.
