The Kinmen County Government has killed 275 cows on three ranches in the county’s Jinning Township (金寧) after a strain of foot-and-mouth disease not seen in the nation before was discovered in livestock earlier this month.
Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Director-General Chang Su-san (張淑賢) said that a DNA scan conducted on May 2 identified the virus as a “type A” foot-and-mouth disease, which had never been detected in Taiwan.
The incident also marked the nation’s first detection of foot-and-mouth disease since May 2012, Chang said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-ting, Taipei Times
Although no further infections have been discovered since, the bureau ordered the culling of all 275 cattle at the facility as a preventive measure against the disease, which is highly contagious, she said, adding that foot-and-mouth disease viruses may remain latent in animals over a period of time.
The cull was conducted in a humane manner via bloodletting after the animals were sedated, she added.
She said the bureau on Friday issued a ban on the transport of raw and processed meat of even-toed hoofed animals from the outlying municipality, including pork, beef and mutton, as well as venison and intestines.
The ordinance is to continue indefinitely until infections are under control, Chang said.
She called on all ranches with even-toed ungulates to strictly limit vehicles from entering and leaving their facilities, adding that all vehicles granted access should be thoroughly disinfected when entering and leaving.
Meanwhile, a county government inspection of all 62 ranches within 1km of the facility did not find any animals exhibiting symptoms that suggested foot-and-mouth disease, she said.
Inspections are to be expanded to facilities within 3km of the Jinning ranch, she added.
On the prospects of the new viral strain hurting Taiwan’s chance of being counted among foot-and-mouth disease-free zones by the World Organization of Animal Health (OIE), a distinction the nation sought to apply for this month, she said that the application opportunity remains open, as long as any potential spread in Kinmen is controlled by July.
She said that if a spread in Kinmen cannot be effectively contained, the nation would instead apply for recognition for Taiwan proper as a foot-and-mouth disease-free zone, which would still help exports of processed meat products, she said.
The bureau plans to file the application with the intergovernmental organization in July, she said.
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