The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency has thwarted an attempt to illegally import five ewes from Greece. The animals were transported in a vehicle that was detained in the immediate vicinity of the BCP “Zlatograd – Termes” after a signal from the “Border Police” to the RFSD – Smolyan.
The inspection found that the necessary documents were not presented for the animals, ear tags were missing and their health status was not certified. An act of establishing an administrative violation was drawn up against the driver of the vehicle. Follow-up measures will also be taken in accordance with the Veterinary Medical Activity Act.
The driver stated to the control authorities that he imported the animals from Greece, counting on not being caught. This is not his only violation. For this year alone, data has been established on three previous violations of the same nature, related to him and his relatives.
The case is particularly risky against the backdrop of the spread of infectious diseases in small ruminants in Greece - since the beginning of the year, 230 outbreaks of sheep and goat pox and 183 outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have been registered there.
The unregulated movement of animals without documents, identification and proven health status is among the main risks for the transmission and spread of infectious diseases and can lead to serious consequences for livestock farming in Bulgaria.
The Bulgarian Animal Health Agency continues to exercise increased control over the movement and introduction of animals from countries with registered outbreaks of infectious diseases in order to prevent their spread on the territory of the country and protect Bulgarian livestock farming.