site.btaUPDATED Dozens Gather Outside Sheep Farm in Velingard in Support of Farm Owner

Dozens of people from all over the country gathered to protest in front of a sheep farm in Velingrad, where an outbreak of goat plague was found on Monday. People said they had come to support the owner of the farm. Some of them said they were prepared to stay as long as necessary to save the animals.

The property is surrounded by bands that read "private property."

Police presence has been increased at the site, and there is no tension between protesters and law enforcement.

One of the farm owners, Dimitar Iliev, аsked the media not to bother him, but he spoke to the people who had come to support him. 

His father, Georgi Iliev, told journalists that the farm was his entire livelihood. "I have thrown away my health, I love my animals, if they are destroyed, we die too," he said and appealed to the caretaker Minister of Agriculture for his cooperation. He said the sheep were not sick with plague. "These animals are rare in Bulgaria, I have kept them for years, this breed is from our ancestors, they are as tough as rocks. If they were sick, they would die," Iliev said.