Search
  1. Home
  2. Southern Africa
  3. Zimbabwe

7,000 cattle to be destroyed

    JOHANNESBURG

    At least 7,000 cattle at Cold Storage Company (CSC) feedlots in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, would be destroyed after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, the ‘Herald’ reported on Wednesday.

    The newspaper quoted a senior quarantine officer in the Department of Veterinary Services as saying that the cattle would be slaughtered and that the European Union, the Southern African Development Community and the World Organisation for Animal Health would be officially informed of the outbreak. Land, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Joseph Made said on Tuesday that the disease would be contained but called for all farmers’ co-operation. He was quoted saying that vaccines had been airlifted from Namibia as back up.

    According to the report, the outbreak was detected at the CSC firm’s Willsgrove feedlot, about 15 km from Bulawayo, off Harare Road. The CSC, Zimbabwe’s sole beef exporting agency, had an annual export quota of 9,100 mt to the EU and 5,000 mt to South Africa, the report said. All beef exports to the EU and other African markets were immediately suspended on Monday.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

    Share this article

    Our ability to deliver compelling, field-based reporting on humanitarian crises rests on a few key principles: deep expertise, an unwavering commitment to amplifying affected voices, and a belief in the power of independent journalism to drive real change.

    We need your help to sustain and expand our work. Your donation will support our unique approach to journalism, helping fund everything from field-based investigations to the innovative storytelling that ensures marginalised voices are heard.

    Please consider joining our membership programme. Together, we can continue to make a meaningful impact on how the world responds to crises.

    Become a member of The New Humanitarian

    Support our journalism and become more involved in our community. Help us deliver informative, accessible, independent journalism that you can trust and provides accountability to the millions of people affected by crises worldwide.

    Join