The coordination of actions to deal with the increased cases of smallpox in goats and sheep in Western Greeceespecially in Achaia and the Aetoloacarnania was the subject of the wide meeting held by the Secretary General for Rural Development and Food, Spyros Protopsaltis at the office of the regional governor of Western Greece, Nektarios Farmakis.

“We strictly implement the measures: decontamination stations around the clock, strict biosecurity, fast procedures on infected farms, proper feed management and zero tolerance for illegal vaccines. Reimbursements will be given to those who abide by the rules,” Protopsaltis said in a statement and added, “We are one step ahead of stricter restrictive measures — even a temporary “lockdown” of animal, feed and equipment movements — but our goal is to avoid that. I call on all breeders to faithfully follow the instructions with discipline and joint effort we will keep our units safe and our production standing”.

For his part, the Deputy Regional Governor for Rural Development, Andreas Filias noted that “the problem of smallpox in Western Greece will be overcome with effective measures and cooperation of the breeders with the competent authorities. Our goal is to protect livestock in the region will be ensured, protecting both the animals and the future of the producers” adding that “The implementation of health protocols strengthen confidence in the final overcoming of the problem, saving the valuable production and the viability of the sector”.

According to the announcement of the HYPAAT, during the meeting the following actions were agreed:

– Intensification of controls and strict biosecurity measures in all farms, with constant information from the local veterinary services.

– Disinfection stations in full operation.

– Proper management of feed stock in contaminated farms by feed supervisors (immediate recording, photography, binding, record keeping).

– Rapid killing and destruction of infected herds within 72 hours of the positive laboratory result (and in any case up to 4 days).

– New cycle of information on biosecurity measures, with priority in the affected areas.

– Illegal vaccines: every incident of illegal importation, trafficking and use of unapproved vaccines is immediately referred to the prosecution authorities.

– Compensations: the framework is strictly applied which stipulates that no compensations are paid to farms that are not registered in the official registers/do not have a holding code, do not have an updated register, have not carried out the required census, have animals without proper marking or do not apply biosecurity measures.

Finally, it was agreed to speed up statutory compensation for those who meet the conditions.