THE GOVERNMENT is looking into ways to appeal or at least delay a European Court order to cull around 116,000 sheep and goats on the island over scrapie fears.
Commenting on the decision yesterday, President Tassos Papadopoulos said “the court ruling will create a lot of problems to the sheep and goat breeders”, adding that the island is also not equipped to dispose the vast amount of animals that will be slaughtered.
The culling of the animals will leave around 10,000 tonnes of carcasses for the government to dispose.
“How will we dispose all those thousands of tonnes of carcasses when we can only dispose around 400 tonnes?” said the President yesterday. “Where will all those animals go?”
Papadopoulos also said apart from the culling of the animals, there is also an issue of loss of income and loss of profession. Sheep, he said, can be vaccinated under certain circumstances and the government has been trying to do this since 1985 covering a large amount of animals.
On the other hand, he added, there is no proven scientific method to make goats more resistant to the virus.
Meanwhile, livestock owners accepted the percentage which is allocated to them by the de minimis funds as promised by Agriculture Minister Fotis Fotiou during a meeting yesterday.
The emergency meeting was held at the Agriculture Ministry yesterday between Fotiou, veterinary service officials, farming union representatives and the goat and sheep breeders.
Some of the main issues discussed were the current court ruling as well as other problems facing the profession such as the increase in feed prices and matters concerning subsidy demands.
“The real sticking point, according to the legal services here in Cyprus, is that regardless of this appeal, the implementation of this law must begin and that is a big problem,” said Fotiou yesterday.
“What we will request that they take into consideration the special issues concerning Cyprus so as not to allow the immediate implementation.”
Fotiou also didn’t rule out the possibility of even going to Brussels himself if no “leeway” is given to Cyprus.
”We called on the committee to inform us as to when and how the implementation of the court ruling will take place in Cyprus. We will use all of our means to avert the immediate implementation of this decision, at least until the appeal as been made, and I could even go to Brussels for this issue in the next few days.”
He added: “If we are to indeed implement this decision, then many problems will arise not just with regards to disposing the animal remains but also with regards to the herders’ profession which could also have a negative impact on our economy.”
Over 80,000 goats and 33,000 sheep on 679 farms are affected in Cyprus with the court decision leaving the authorities no choice but to slaughter an estimated 116,000 sheep and goats out of a total population of 430,000 animals. The livestock does not carry the ARR genotype known to be resistant to the disease.
The aim of the EU regulation is to eradicate scrapie from scrapie affected flocks by culling animals that have susceptible genotypes.
The move has spread fear among Cypriot breeders who have warned of financial ruin for their livelihoods if the cull goes ahead.
Cyprus will be the country in the EU most affected by the ruling, as 25 per cent of its sheep and goats will disappear.
The decision came about following a ruling in favour of a French appeal last month that effectively prohibits human consumption of meat or animal products coming from livestock that is susceptible to the disease.
Speaking about the matter concerning the dire situation of the breeders’ profession, Fotiou yesterday recommended them to submit to the cabinet a proposal for immediate aide which would cost around £860,000 in government and EU subsidies.
The proposal idea – which was eventually accepted by the herders – comes to around £2 per head.
Commenting on the health risks of eating meat and dairy products with the scrapie virus, Fotiou yesterday said that “there are no dangers from eating the meat from the animals.”
Also commenting on the matter yesterday was Stefanos Stefanou who is the representative of AKEL leader, House President and presidential candidate Demetris Christofias.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Stefanou said Christofias was currently in talks with the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Marcos Kyprianou in an effort to avert a possible crisis.
“The decision of the court will undoubtedly have catastrophic backlash for the sheep and goat herders which are already being strangled by other problems”, said Stefanou. “In the event that the immediate decision remains, then a chain reaction of social and economic repercussions will be made and not to mention the fact that many farming businesses will be left without an income.”
Stefanou went on to say that “the government should show its support to these groups which offer so much to the community.”
Others, like Green Party Deputy George Perdikis, were more scathing, accusing the government of not taking the necessary measures despite prior warnings from EU official about the issue of scrapie among herds on the island.
??
??
??
??
