The General Directorate of Food and Veterinary Affairs (DGAV) admitted, this Wednesday, delays in the collection of animal carcasses in the Alentejo, due to the incapacity caused by the bluetongue outbreak, clarifying that, in these cases, producers can opt for burial.
“We are aware that “The number of animals whose deaths are reported may exceed the collection capacity in 24 hours.”acknowledged, this Wednesday, the general director of Food and Veterinary Medicine, Susana Pombo, in statements to the Lusa agency.
Several ranchers in the districts of Évora and Beja reported to Lusa delays in the collection of animal corpses, which remain decomposing on the ground for several days or, in some cases, even close to two weeks, after having reported the death to the authorities.
Created by the State in 2003 with the aim of safeguarding public health, the Dead Animal Carcass Collection System (SIRCA) is coordinated by the DGAV and provided by a company, through a service provision contract.
According to the general director of Food and Veterinary Medicine, SIRCA has procedural manuals that include sanctions for producers who bury animal corpses on livestock farms, but exceptions are also foreseen.
“As long as there are operational reasons that prevent collection, the animals may be buried without any penalty for the producers.” make that decision” and this is provided for in the SIRCA manual, he highlighted.
Susana Pombo highlighted that a producer who has a dead bovine, ovine, goat or pig animal on his farm must always call the SIRCA call center to request the removal of the carcass.
“If the collection is not carried out within 20 hours of notification of the death, a producer can choose to bury it and the company, upon arriving at the property, records in the system the reason why the collection has not been carried out and The producer has no sanction,” he stressed.
Insisting that burial “is already viable”, the head of the DGAV considered that, if there are delays in collection, this option “is even preferable to leaving a corpse at the disposal of wild animals.”
Also speaking to Lusa, Tiago Perloiro, rancher and technical secretary of the National Association of Merino Sheep Breeders (ANCORME), stated that there have been delays in the collection of the animal carcasses, without specifying the delay.
“I don’t know how many days, but I’ve heard of a 10-day delay. “It is not acceptable, from an environmental point of view, to wait all this time for a corpse to be collected,” he highlighted.
Another rancher from the Estremoz area, in the Évora district, who asked not to be identified, told Lusa that he had already buried six sheep on his property that died from bluetongue disease, after waiting 15 days for be collected.
In statements to Lusa, the technical secretary of ANCORME maintained that, the moment the producer reports the death of an animal to SIRCA, it must immediately be decided between the parties whether the carcass is collected or buried.
Otherwise, the director warned, the company that collects the bodies runs the risk of “losing time and money in operations,” since its team could arrive at the farm that reported the death and the breeder would have already carried out the burial.
Bluetongue or bluetongue is a notifiable viral disease that affects ruminants and is not transmissible to humans.
The DGAV has temporarily authorized three drugs against bluetongue, two of which are not yet available on the market.
Serotypes 3 and 4 of the bluetongue virus have already reached all the districts of mainland Portugal, leaving only the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores free of the disease.
Regarding serotype 3, the latest official data, reported last week, indicate that 41 affected livestock farms and 102 animals were registered, with no mortality.
In the case of sheep, a total of 238 farms and 11,934 animals were affected, as well as 1,775 deaths.
By districts, Évora stands out, with 90 affected farms, and Beja, with 76, followed by Setúbal (48) and Portalegre (20).
Source: Observadora
