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Nearly 2 mln animals culled in S Korea due to FMD
English.news.cn 2011-01-17 16:56:29 FeedbackPrintRSS

SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea said on Monday it has culled and buried nearly two million livestock as it grapples with the severest outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). A total of 1,986,987 animals, including cattle, pigs, goats and deer, from 4, 155 farms nationwide have been culled and buried as of Monday, the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said.

The outbreak of FMD, first confirmed in Andong on Nov. 29 last year, is estimated to have inflicted losses of more than two trillion won (1.8 billion U.S. dollars).

The country had moved to vaccinate a limited number of animals on Dec. 25 after initial quarantine efforts proved inadequate to contain the outbreak that has spread to most parts of the country.

More than 2.13 million animals have been vaccinated so far with all resources being used to complete the administering of shots before the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Feb. 3 this year.

The vaccination of animals marks the first time since 2000 that the government has ordered the giving of shots. Besides the 2000 FMD outbreak, the country was hit by the disease in 2002 and two more times early last year.

Meanwhile, a service for the repose of the deceased animals was held on Sunday, in an effort to console farmers who lost their livestock in the country's worst-ever outbreak of FMD.