STOCKBREEDERS yesterday welcomed a temporary freeze on the culling of animals, although authorities warned against complacency pending the results of additional FMD tests abroad.
Over 500 animals have been slaughtered since Monday and another 1,500 inside the danger zone could be at risk to stop any possible spread of the disease.
In addition to a 3km-radius quarantine area around Dromolaxia, the veterinary services have set up a 10-kilometre surveillance zone encompassing 10 villages. There are some 150, 000 farm animals in the region.
European Union specialist on animal disease Alberto Ladomada, currently on the island, has described the outbreak as mild.
Scientists have identified the O type virus, which typically takes longer to manifest symptoms than other types of FMD.
Angry livestock farmers have been somewhat appeased by state compensation, which includes £110 for each animal culled and milk destroyed and £75 for the loss of income from each animal for the next six months.
But many are still apprehensive about their future, particularly if the government were to order further culling.
TV news footage showed one farmer throwing down his compensation cheque on the floor and bursting into tears.
Husbandmen have complained about the blanket cull, saying the vast majority of their animals are healthy. The government says it has no choice but to implement EU regulations, which state that the entire herd must be destroyed even if a single animal has the disease.
Around 200 more samples taken yesterday from farms across the island have been sent for tests to the UK-based community laboratory.
And five pigs from Orounda village were put to sleep yesterday and samples extracted, after suspicions that animals there may have been inoculated with dodgy vaccines.
Speaking to the media, Agriculture Minister Fotis Fotiou said the results should be in within a few days, by which time authorities would get a better idea of how far the disease had spread.
He said latest findings have shown that all four of the farms where culling took place tested positive for the O type of the airborne virus.
“We do not mention this to justify the culling, but rather to illustrate the gravity of the situation,” Fotiou said.
“Hopefully, [future] tests will come out negative, so there will be no need for more culling. It is unfortunate that animals should be destroyed…but you understand that we are obliged to take all necessary measures in order to safeguard the country’s interests in general, husbandry and the economy,” he added.
The Veterinary Services will continue monitoring farms on a daily basis in coming weeks until they are reasonably convinced the outbreak has been contained.
Fotiou said EU restrictions on the movement and export of meat would remain in force for at least three months after the last recorded case of FMD.
Both he and Charalambos Kakoyiannis, head of the Veterinary Services, played down the fact the media were not allowed to witness the culling of pigs at Orounda yesterday.
“We are in favour of full transparency, but sometimes things need to be done in a certain way,” said Fotiou.
The minister reiterated that FMD posed no health risks to the public, even if someone were to consume meat or milk from tainted animals.
And to illustrate his point, he issued journalists a cordial dinner invitation at a Dromolaxia restaurant.
“We shall eat only lamb,” he said.
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