site.bta4,000 Sheep and Goats Euthanized in Bulgaria amid Plague Outbreak

Sofia, July 15 (BTA) - Around 4,000 sheep and goats have been euthanized so far in the southern regions of Bourgas and Yambol due to the ovine rinderpest outbreak, said here during a Sunday news conference Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) Executive Director Damyan Iliev. The news conference was held in response to fierce protests against the large-scale culling of herds in the region of Strandzha over the disease's outbreak. Local farmers believe that the herds were euthanized rashly and doubt the plausibility of the tests which have established the disease. According to Iliev, the problem is that the media were not informed adequately about the disease. He admitted that the measures taken result in severe economic losses, but at the same time there are another 1.3 million animals across the country, which must be protected.

In June, BFSA established two ovine rinderpest outbreaks in the two southern regions. Iliev explained that the plague was confirmed by tests in Bulgaria, as well as subsequent tests of samples sent to a lab in France.

According to Iliev, Europe will compensate Bulgaria for its losses under a specific scheme, if this country carries out the euthanasia of animals properly. "When they come to inspect and say that we haven't done it (the euthanasia) properly, then we will not be compensated by the EU," he went on to say.

An expert mission from the European Commission's DG Food Safety will arrive in Bulgaria on Monday. The goal is to establish whether the measures taken by the Bulgarian authorities to contain the disease meet EU legal requirements.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) announced Sunday they are urgently petitioning the prosecuting magistracy, demanding that the suspension of the livestock culling order, said Socialist leader Kornelia Ninova in the southern village of Sharkovo, where she joined farmers protesting the culling of animals in the village, BSP reported. The protest stopped the destruction of the last remaining herd there.

Agriculture Minister Roumen Porozhanov visited the village on Saturday and told animal breeders that there is no alternative to the culling of their livestock, because these are the rules and if the disease spreads, the export of Bulgarian meat and dairy products to the EU will be banned. He promised higher compensations than the ones provided by the regulatory framework - at least 190 leva per animal, explaining that the payments can start on Monday.

Тhe socialists, however, believe that the culling is rushed. Ninova said that according to the official documents she has seen, the order to euthanize the animals was issued July 4, which is five days before the lab results became available.