site.bta14 Sheeppox Outbreaks, One Goat Plague Outbreak Detected in Bulgaria

Currently, 14 outbreaks of smallpox in small ruminants have been detected in Bulgaria, said the Executive Director of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA), Svetlozar Patarinski, at Thursday's meeting of the Ad Hoc Committee of Inquiry into Goat Plague, Sheeppox Outbreaks. 

This is probably the penultimate meeting of the Committee, said its Chairman Borislav Petkov. On Thursday, Parliament did not extend its term of operation. The Ad Hoc Committee must issue a report on the results of its activities.

Patarinski pointed out that the number of animals that culled in these outbreaks was 2,204. For these 14 outbreaks, 12 compensation certificates have been issued, he said, noting that the procedure for issuing such is underway for the last two outbreaks.

The quarantine zones that have been introduced due to sheep and goat pox cover the Stara Zagora region; the Galabovo and Opan municipalities; the entire territories of Haskovo and Sliven regions; the municipalities of Straldzha, Yambol and Tundzha from Yambol region; the municipalities of Krumovgrad and Momchilgrad from Kardzhali region, the BFSA Executive Director said.

He recalled that at the moment there is also a declared plague outbreak in Velingrad, which is only one and covers the entire Pazardzhik region. Measures also cover the municipalities of Razlog, Satovcha, Garmen, Bansko, Belitsa, Yakoruda from Blagoevgrad region; the Dospat municipality from Smolyan region and the Kostenets and Dolna Banya municipalities from Sofia region.

Patarinski explained that these quarantine zones were published by a decision of the European Commission and the information was uploaded to the Commission's website.

The number of acts drawn up for the mandatory culling of animals in the period between 2018 and January 15,2025 was 513, Patarinski said. The number of appealed acts was 5, the acts that have entered into force were 508. The number of paid acts for mandatory culling of animals for this period was 496, and the unpaid ones are currently 12, he indicated.