Toledo (EFE).- The spokesperson for the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Blanca Fernández, has assured that, since the sheep and goats were immobilized last week, no new focus of smallpox has been detected in the region.
In addition, he added that 4 million euros in compensation have been paid so far, for some 40,000 slaughtered animals.
To questions from journalists at a press conference, he explained that since the immobilization of sheep and goats was ordered on February 9, more than 50 new tests have been sent to the laboratories and all have been negative.
The last one that tested positive was that of Alcázar de San Juan (Ciudad Real) this February.
The first outbreaks of sheep pox were declared in September
In September 2022, smallpox outbreaks were officially declared in eight sheep farms in the municipality of Villaescusa de Haro and later in November 2022 two new outbreaks were declared in La Alberca de Záncara and Tébar.
In addition, in January 2023 two new outbreaks were repeated in these last two municipalities, and the last one, in Alcázar.
The immobilization of the cattle herd, Fernández pointed out, is a “very tough and very difficult” decision that can cause losses to the farms, but these would be greater if the contagion spread.
Restrictions could be lifted sooner than previously thought
“If things go well” and the tests continue to show negative results, the ban on the movement of sheep and goats could be lifted sooner than previously thought, the spokesperson for the Board assured.
He recalled that he is being compensated with 100 euros per slaughtered animal and 110 if it is a Manchego sheep as established in the royal decree that regulates it.
In addition, it has advanced that the Government of Castilla-La Mancha is studying the granting of aid for the replacement of the cattle herd for those who so wish.
Núñez regrets that the Minister of Agriculture does not clarify whether he will appear in court
For his part, the president of the PP of Castilla-La Mancha, Paco Núñez, regretted that the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development, Francisco Martínez Arroyo, has not yet clarified whether he will respond to his request to appear in court regional meetings to explain their management against sheep pox.
“We have no response from the Government of Castilla-La Mancha”, Núñez asserted in statements to the media during his visit to the International Machinery, Techniques and Equipment Exhibition (Enomaq 2023) in Zaragoza, where some thirty of Castilian-La Mancha exhibitors.
The leader of the regional PP has criticized the silence of the Community Board in the face of this “terrible” sheep pox crisis, for which he hopes that the counselor will take the floor “very soon” in parliamentary headquarters.
Núñez has made it ugly that the regional Executive “did nothing” during the first four months since the first outbreak of this disease was registered and that the first measures have come late, when smallpox “has already ruined hundreds of ranchers” and has “thrown thousands of farms to the ground”, at the same time that it harms the agri-food industry.
