[Globe and Mail-Canada] Carolynne Wheeler - This summer's conflict in southern Lebanon brought disaster to Roni Litbak's dairy and beef operation in northern Israel. A hail of Katyusha rockets tore into a barn, killing 19 dairy cows and nine calves, and injuring 25 others beyond saving. Litbak, 35, is the manager of Kibbutz Amir's agricultural operations. The thousands of Katyusha rockets that landed in Israel's north this summer left many farmers with impossible choices: risk their lives to care for orchards and livestock, or take shelter in bunkers and allow the fruit to rot and animals to go hungry. In addition to a lost season in the region's orchards, dairy and poultry operations were also hit - their buildings damaged, poultry and livestock killed in direct strikes, or so frightened by the constant thud of rockets that they could no longer lay eggs or produce milk. Litbak's cows have still not returned to regular production levels, two months after the rockets stopped.
2006-11-03 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive