A large dairy was shut down Wednesday in Guangzhou, capital of
south China's Guangdong
Province, after more than 70 percent of its cows were diagnosed
as having bovine tuberculosis.
More than 400 sick cows were slaughtered Wednesday, while the
farm's dairy were sealed and prepared for destruction.
The Guangzhou Yunyan Cattle Farm in the city's Baiyun District,
used to be one of Guangdong's biggest milk-production bases. The
farm had 630 cows at the start of this month and used to produce
more than 2 tons of fresh milk every day.
But an investigation was launched after the farm had an outbreak
of tuberculosis last week.
The Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Agriculture and Guangdong
Provincial Administration of Inspection and Quarantine jointly
issued an emergency notice Wednesday to say they were launching a
province-wide health inspection campaign into Guangdong's cattle
and other domestic animals. The campaign will also stress that
animal medicines should be managed and used properly.
Guangdong has registered more than 50,000 cows. In Guangzhou
alone, there are 125 registered dairies, where more than 18,000
cows are raised.
Earlier this month, the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of
Agriculture established a special task force that will focus on
handling the case and making further investigations.
The outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in Guangdong has prompted
China's Ministry
of Agriculture to reiterate its pledge that it will come down
hard on those who fail to report any animal epidemics in good
time or in good faith.
Zhao Weining, a division director with the ministry's Animal
Husbandry Bureau, Wednesday said any failure to report an animal
epidemic would violate the country's Animal Epidemic-Control Law,
which was enacted in 1997.
"The incidence of tuberculosis in the Guangzhou Yunyan Dairy is
an awfully bad case... Its owners put their interests before the
health of the consumers, which can never be tolerated," he told
China Daily yesterday evening.
Zhao said his bureau is monitoring the latest case closely.
"Nationwide, there are very few cases of bovine tuberculosis
cases, and there has been no large-scale infection among the
country's herds of cattle," he said.
(China Daily July 24, 2003)