total slaughter is “the least bad solution”, according to Marc Fesneau

The former Minister of Agriculture co-signed an article on Sunday with three other former ministers, published in “La Tribune Dimanche”, to defend preventive culling to fight against the disease.

Slaughtering an entire herd of cows as soon as there is a proven case of lumpy skin disease within the same herd is “the least bad solution to try to avoid contamination”declares Monday December 22 on HERE (ex-France Bleu) Marc Fesneau, president of the Les Démocrates group in the National Assembly and former Minister of Agriculture, the day after an article published in La Tribune Sundaywith three other former Ministers of Agriculture (Michel Barnier, Stéphane Travert and Julien Denormandie) to defend preventive felling, “rampart measure” and of “protection” against the disease, according to them.

Marc Fesneau calls for “hear the dismay” farmers who have seen their herd decimated by preventive slaughter and those who fear seeing their animals contaminated. He recognizes that “the difficulty is 17 million cattle” to be vaccinated and therefore “finding 17 million doses and 17 million arms to vaccinate: it cannot be done on this scale, not to mention the export problems”argues the former Minister of Agriculture. He wonders “how many veterinarians in France can do this vaccination” within the allotted time.

The MP assures ICI that politicians and farmers are “not against each other in this matter and calls for “looking at what the science says”. Finally, he wants the bans on the movement of cattle in regulated zones to be respected. “If animals are not transported in livestock trailers, flies (which cause the disease) do not go 150 kilometers”. The president of the Democrats group in the Assembly assures us: “We have to show education, when you transport a bovine without certainty about its health status, you spread the disease.”

Last Tuesday, Sébastien Lecornu requested a “acceleration of the vaccination strategy” against contagious lumpy skin disease which affects farms. He also requested a “inventory of controls on prohibited transport of animals”, “a support plan for small farms” as well as“a repopulation plan adapted to Occitanie”.