The Food Agency is categorical that they are sick wiht the plague, the owners claim that they are healthy
The state will compensate the farmers whose herds are about to be killed because of their plague infection. The estimated amount is over 700 thousand.BGN,Deputy Minister of Agriculture Deyan Stratev announced.
More than a week ago, the BABH found the first outbreak of plague among small ruminants in the last six years, and the disease was confirmed to be on the territory of Velingrad. The agency’s experts found that the infection is circulating in five interrelated livestock facilities, where a total of 1,769 sheep are raised.
After the disease was detected, the farmers decided to treat the animals in Greece without notifying the competent authorities. However, according to Stratev, the laboratory in question was private and did not have the necessary certificate to prove that the results were valid. Samples were also taken from the Bulgarian National reference Laboratory, which is included in the EU list for diagnosing this disease. According to the checks carried out,it turned out twice that animal plague was present,and Stratev stated that the results were 100% reliable.
“A registered veterinarian is responsible for each farm,but he is obliged,when there is a suspicion of illness,to seek the veterinarians from the regional food safety services. The samples are positive for plague of small ruminants”,he was categorical. According to him, it is likely that the disease was transmitted after unregulated importation of animals.
The executive director of BABH, Svetlozar Patarinski, commented that the infection is particularly dangerous, as it spreads among animals and is associated with notable economic losses, which can lead to the liquidation of the entire animal husbandry in a given country. This is precisely why it is indeed necessary to perform euthanasia.
Though, the farmers continued to claim that the samples from the Greek laboratory showed that their animals were not sick and they would not allow them to be killed, even leading to protests. I see a healthy herd,according to all the rules of logic and medicine,if there was a plague – this herd should have been gone,commented Daniela Pavlova. I threw my health away, if they kill them, we die too, says the animal breeder Georgi Iliev.
Though, the food agency is adamant that the infection entered the herds more than 14 to 20 days ago. In the beginning, the animals were treated by three private veterinarians. They were requested by the owners.