Ban on livestock export to be lifted

REGIONAL Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Margalida Moner, yesterday confirmed that the ban on exporting cattle from the Balearics will be lifted from December 8 this year. This relaxation of controls will only come into effect however, on the condition that no new cases of the livestock disease known as “blue tongue” are reported in the region between now and that date. Moner was optimistic that there would be no reoccurrence as inspections throughout the year have only given positive results.
Speaking at the opening of an Annual Congress for Veterinary Surgeons specialising in diagnostic work (Avedila), the minister said that the spread of “blue tongue” is “under control” in the Balearics, and that once the period of the previously fixed ban has expired, exportation of livestock could continue normally. Antoni Garcies, director of the Balearic Institute of Animal Biology (IBABSA) supported Moner's statements. He claimed that even though there are still three months to go before the mandatory oneyear ban on export following a vaccination programme can be safely lifted, this time of year holds the greatest risk for contagion as mosquitos which spread the disease are at their most active. Therefore, said Garcies, “we are in the critical months” between September and October when controls on farmed cattle and sheep in the Balearics intensifies to spot any new cases of “blue tongue”. The director was taking part yesterday at the start of the two-day Avedila Congress in Palma, an event which brings together some 120 veterinary surgeons from all over Spain. They focus on discussing health problems among livestock. The “blue tongue” virus has an incubation period of between five and ten days and principally affects cattle, sheep and goats.