Movement of animals in Kavango lifted

RUNDU – The Directorate of Veterinary Services (DVS) at Rundu has lifted the ban on the movement of cloven-hoofed animals out of the Kavango Region.
The ban on the transportation of thatching grass out of the region has also been lifted.

The DVS banned the movement of animals here after blood samples of two buffalo cows which attacked and injured two women early last month in the western Kavango Region tested positive for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).Blood samples that were sent to the Central Veterinary Laboratory in Windhoek last month confirmed that the buffaloes had indeed contracted FMD.Rundu State veterinarian Dr Thompson Shuro said the ban was lifted after no other cases of FMD were recorded by animal health technicians, who conducted a three-day livestock inspection and surveillance campaign throughout the region.The state veterinarian said owners of cloven-hoofed animals and businesses involving thatching grass can thus continue with the marketing and transportation of both.Shuro said the roadblocks in both the eastern and western Kavango regions which were set up by DVS officials to ensure that no animals move out of the region, have also been removed.With the lifting of the restriction, the movement of all cloven-hoofed animals such as sheep, goats, pigs, cattle as well as animal shows and auctions can now continue.The carcasses of the buffaloes which injured the two women were burnt by veterinary officials at the DVS office at Rundu to prevent a possible spread of FMD.Ministry of Environment and Tourism officials shot both buffaloes after they attacked the women at the villages of Mupini and Matende, situated some 30 kilometres west of Rundu, last month.The buffaloes came from an easterly direction, and were suspected to have come from neighbouring Angola via the Okavango River. – Nampa