150 animals dead as bluetongue disease ‘ravages’ north

A total of 80 farms have been quarantined and 150 animals are dead as the north is “ravaged” by an outbreak of bluetongue disease, he north’s animal producers’ and breeders’ union chairman Mustafa Naimogullari said on Wednesday.

He said the disease “is bringing sheep and goat farmers to their knees” and has now spread to farms from Rizokarpaso all the way to Nicosia.

With this in mind, he said the distribution and use of pesticides to fight the disease is normally the responsibility of municipalities in the north, and that “the alarm must be raised”.

In addition, he said, animals which died over the weekend were “left in their pens” until officers went to inspect them on Monday.

“The flies which landed on the dead animals then transmitted the disease to other animals. This is very serious negligence, frivolity! You cannot do these things,” he said.

Bluetongue disease is transmitted by insects and primarily affects sheep and, less commonly, cattle. Characteristic symptoms include fever, swelling around the face and lips, and in severe cases, blue discolouration of the tongue due to a lack of oxygen.

The disease is not directly a threat to human health, though the increased animal mortality rate it brings about tends to lead to substantial economic losses for farmers.

Meanwhile, the Nicosia Turkish Municipality on Wednesday announced that it had uncovered that animals were being slaughtered without permission in an “unsanitary environment” at a butcher’s shop in the northern Nicosia suburb of Taskinkoy.

The municipality said legal action had been taken against the business’ owners.