Sheep and goat cull postponed

A PLANNED cull of up to 116,000 sheep and goats on the island due to scrapie fears has been put on ice for the moment following the intervention of EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection Markos Kyprianou.

On September 28, the Court of Justice of the European Communities decided measures needed to be taken across the EU following the appearance of the disease.

In Cyprus, this means that almost one in four sheep and goats were set to be slaughtered.

According to a spokeswoman of the Commissioner in Brussels, Kyprianou is currently preparing a new regulation aimed at postponing the culling for another five years.

The proposal will shortly be submitted to a European Committee of food chain experts, comprised of all 27 EU Member States.

Approval, if given, is expected by December.

According to Phileleftheros newspaper, Kyprianou last night discussed the matter with President Tassos Papadopoulos at a dinner in Brussels and will also today be meeting with Agriculture Minister Fotis Fotiou.

The culling of the animals will leave around 10,000 tonnes of carcasses for the government to dispose, something the island is not equipped to undertake.

Livestock owners say there is a major issue of loss of income and loss of profession, despite a compensation package being announced.

Over 80,000 goats and 33,000 sheep on 679 farms are affected in Cyprus. 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 affected flocks by culling animals that have susceptible genotypes.

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.

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