Paraguay: Vet services destroy cattle, pigs due to FMD

//13 Jan 2012
Paraguayan veterinary services have destroyed 168 livestock mostly belonging to a farm where an outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) was confirmed in early January in San Pedro county north of the country.
According to Senacsa (animal health and food quality service) 154 cattle from the ‘Nazareth’ farm were sacrificed together with another nine cattle and three swine from neighbouring paddocks. Livestock were terminated with the sanitary rifle used by the army and later buried in a common grave.

The farm is only 15 kilometres away from a farm where last September the first Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak forced the killing of 820 livestock.

On January 4, the Paraguayan government declared a state of animal sanitary emergency in the San Pedro region and activated the National Animal Sanitary Emergency System.

The issue was addressed by president Fernando Lugo during his weekly ministerial cabinet meeting yesterday since beef and soybeans are Paraguay's main sources of income.

Related website:
• Senacsa