The producing sector of the Region and the Ministry show their concern when detecting other recent outbreaks in La Mancha lands, and urge extreme precautions
Sheep and goat farmers in the Region of Murcia are very concerned about the worsening threat of the viral disease of smallpox in these animals, after detecting new outbreaks at the beginning of the year in the neighboring community of Castilla-La Mancha and after There have also been different outbreaks since September on farms in other neighboring provinces such as Granada and Almería, which have already set off alarm bells, as LA VERDAD published on October 26.
In fact, more than twenty outbreaks of this smallpox (VOC) were recorded in 2022, which forced the slaughter of thousands of head of cattle, especially sheep. Therefore, the fear of Murcian farmers grows in the face of the damage that episodes of this type could cause in the Community’s herd, which, according to data from 2021, would be made up of some 663,000 sheep and lambs, in addition to some 213,000 goats. Of course, there is no risk of contagion for people.
«The situation is of maximum alert because it must be taken into account that in our community there are many entries of live animals, destined either for the feedlot or for export, through the port of Cartagena. Hence, from the outset we contacted the Administration to take all measures to the extreme,” warns Vicente Carrión, from the agricultural organization Coag, which manages some 1,200 sheep on its farm in the Cartagena district of Pozo Estrecho.
continuous surveillance
From the Ministry of Water, Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries they recognize that, “indeed, there is concern” about the recent cases in two towns in Cuenca, something that they share with the entire sector whenever a new disease is diagnosed, as is the case with the VOC. Sources from the General Directorate of Livestock emphasize that, given this reality, “we are on continuous alert and vigilance regarding the information provided by both the competent authority of the affected autonomous community and that from the Ministry of Agriculture.”
The largest movement of livestock in Murcian territory forces to intensify the measures to minimize risks
In this sense, all the information received “is immediately reported to the sector through its livestock health defense groups.” Likewise, they remember in the Ministry, a VOC update day was already held last December, “with a notable participation of the sector, when cases jumped in the province of Granada -exactly in Baza-, a situation that fortunately is already controlled ” .
A geographical area very close, in addition, to the area of production of the Segureño lamb, one of the native varieties of the Region, together with the Murcian-Grenadian goat, which increased the danger even more.
The president of the College of Veterinarians of the Region of Murcia, Teresa López, assures that “we are very vigilant, because although we have not had any cases, thank God, we have been surrounded.” However, she insists that “the most important thing is to control the movement of livestock, that the transit protocols are followed in the trafficking of animals from one community to another.” Because, in cases like this, “there is a risk in the operations of buying and selling animals” and it could force “the sacrifice of the heads.”
The protocol against bird flu is maintained to avoid outbreaks
Another threat that has the regional livestock sector on guard, although in this specific case the poultry sector, is the one that refers to the avian flu disease, although for the moment no case has been detected in Murcian territory, despite the important number of outbreaks that occurred in Spain during the past year.
However, since there was news that certain outbreaks had occurred in several autonomous regions, the General Directorate of Livestock of the Autonomous Community established a protocol for animals coming from regions bordering those affected -since then they cannot leave their territory –, which consists of their immobilization for 30 days, as well as the inspection of the animals by the technicians of the Ministry.
Precisely, in the Region of Murcia in 2022 there was a reported focus of the so-called Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) in wild birds, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. “It was a migratory bird that was left dead in a salt marsh, but no more cases were later recorded,” says Teresa López, president of the College of Veterinarians.
The last case of an outbreak was registered in a bison farm in Ourense, after mutating the virus in an unusual way, days after seagulls killed by this disease appeared on Galician beaches, which has once again set off all the alarms.
“The problem with poultry farms is that they can be very affected by an entry of the virus by airborne transmission, as it is widely replicated, which would mean great economic damage,” says López. And it is that, for example, in the event of detecting an outbreak of avian flu in a laying hen farm, both the total number of birds and their egg production would have to be sacrificed.
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