By Jackson Mapapayi
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) has broken out in three districts in North Western province.
The affected districts include Zambezi, Kabompo and Mufumbwe respectively.
This is according to a notification letter addressed to all District Veterinary officers in the province signed by the Provincial Veterinary officer Dr Peter Banda.
Dr Banda indicated that to prevent the spread of the disease to the entire province and the rest of the country, stringent measures have been put in place.
He said measures include banning of slaughter for all cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and goats in all affected veterinary camps with immediate effect.
He also said the controlled slaughter in non-infected camps and districts has been put in place where strict inspection will be carried out by veterinary officers before any animal is slaughtered to ensure the animals are clinically free from FMD and that any cloven-hoofed animal slaughtered without inspection of source by officers for public consumption will be destroyed.
“No movement of cloven-hoofed animals will be allowed from infected camps,” said Dr Banda.
He also mentioned that controlled stock movement and slaughter on commercials farms must have the farm closed with a perimeter fence and have proper and adequate biosecurity measures in place.
“The farm must also be free from FMD with animals clinically health and cloven-hoofed animals will be permitted to move out of the district or province without testing for FMD, ” he added.
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