Cyprus ordered to cull 116k livestock

The European Commission will look into ways to minimize the impact on Cyprus of the order of the Court of Justice of the European Communities for as many as 116.000 sheep and goats on the island to be culled over scrapie fears.
In response to a question by CNA on the ruling of Court of First Instance, the Representation of the European Commission in Cyprus said “the Commission plans to appeal this order by the Court of First Instance to suspend the application of the regulation pending the final Court judgment”.
In addition, it said, “the Commission will look into ways to minimize the impact of the Court order on Cyprus”.

Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos said that if the order of the Court of Justice of the European Communities for the culling of livestock due to scrapies, then surely counter-measures will be made taken.
President Papadopoulos said the decision was taken in relation to France’s appeal against the European Commission.
“The litigants are only these two. The heads of states, the EU members, voted in favour of the directive which did not impose the culling of the animals to the extent that the court decision imposes. France appealed against this directive”, the President said, adding that the Court accepted France’s request.
“Now the Commission has decided to appeal the decision and the issue that remains is whether the decision will be executed or will be suspended in view of the appeal”, the President added.
He clarified that no government can intervene, “neither we are litigants, nor can we appear”.
Asked if some counter-measures can be taken to lessen the effect of the order which calls for the culling of as many as 116.000 sheep and goats in Cyprus, President Papadopoulos replied that “surely, if it is implemented, then counter-measures will be provided. But so many other problems will be created”. He added.
For instance, the President wondered what will happen with the disposal of the carcasses, reminded that now Cyprus has the capacity to dispose 400 tonnes a day “but here we are talking about thousands of carcasses”.
“Where will all these animals go?” he wondered.
President Papadopoulos also said apart from the culling of the animals, there is also an issue of loss of income and loss of profession. Sheep, he said, can be vaccinated under certain circumstances and the government has been trying to do this since 1985 covering a large amount of animals. Not all of them, however. On the other hand, there is no proven scientific method to make goats more resistant to the virus”, he added.
Meanwhile, livestock owners accepted the percentage at CYP2 per head which is allocated to them by the deminimis funds as promised by Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Minister Fotis Fotiou during a meeting on Wednesday.
Vice President of the Coordinating Committee, George Leventis said the livestock owners will also re-outline their demands so that these will comply with the acquis communautaire.

Some of the main issues discussed were the current court ruling as well as other problems facing the profession such as the increase in feed prices and matters concerning subsidy demands.
“The real sticking point, according to the legal services here in Cyprus, is that regardless of this appeal, the implementation of this law must begin and that is a big problem,” said Fotiou.
Over 80,000 goats and 33,000 sheep on 679 farms are affected in Cyprus with the court decision leaving the authorities no choice but to slaughter an estimated 116,000 sheep and goats out of a total population of 430,000 animals. The livestock does not carry the ARR genotype known to be resistant to the disease.
The aim of the EU regulation is to eradicate scrapie from scrapie affected flocks by culling animals that have susceptible genotypes.
The move has spread fear among Cypriot breeders who have warned of financial ruin for their livelihoods if the cull goes ahead.
Cyprus will be the country in the EU most affected by the ruling, as 25% of its sheep and goats will disappear.
Commenting on the health risks of eating meat and dairy products with the scrapie virus, Fotiou said that “there are no dangers from eating the meat from the animals.”
Green Party Deputy George Perdikis accused the government of not taking the necessary measures despite prior warnings from EU official about the issue of scrapie among herds on the island.