The deputy director in the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) Dr Kekgonne Baipoledi told journalists in Francistown yesterday that cattle in FMD zones will be vaccinated and not killed. “When we persist in killing animals, it means that animals that are genetically adapted to an area may become extinct. So we want to avoid that by vaccinating all the animals in an affected area. A newly established purified vaccine which is an advanced version of a vaccine we used for vaccination in the past will be used to vaccinate the animals incase of an outbreak,” he explained in a media briefing to provide an update on the restocking exercise following an FMD outbreak in 2011.
The government decided to cull cattle following the outbreak. Over 60,000 animals were killed in a move that attracted criticism from farmers. Baipoledi said that restocking which started late last year is now 99.8% complete. “We are only left with restocking cattle for dairy farmers in the area,” he said. He said the government is still trying to source animals for the dairy farmers.
