Bulgaria to build a fence along Turkish border

The Bulgarian Government will finally build a fence along the border with Turkey, after a second outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) since January has threatened local farmers with devastation, Bulgarian media reported.

The decision was taken on March 30 2011, Agriculture Minister Miroslav Naidenov said.

Hundreds of farmers in the southeast of Bulgaria, an area close to Turkey and recently ravaged by repeated outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, have vowed to defend their animals, saying they would rather be killed first than have their animals destroyed after another outbreak of FMD struck last week.

The stockbreeders wrote a lengthy letter to Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for international co-operation, humanitarian aid and crisis response, in which they demanded that they are provided with real assistance; furthermore, they demanded to know why the Government was hesitating and refusing to build a fence along the Turkish border after the first FMD outbreak in January

After the January outbreak, Bulgarian authorities deliberated and hesitated about the fence project, while the authorities in Turkey were staunchly opposed to it, saying there was “no FMD” in their country, and the fence simply served as a division between Christianity and Islam. But Bulgarian officials disagreed, saying there were more than 1000 confirmed sites of FMD in Turkey.

“We will build a fence along the border which will prevent animals from venturing freely into Bulgaria, it is about limiting their movement,” Naidenov said.

This time the Bulgarian Government decision reportedly is a “firm one” having admitted that “it was taken too late” but as far as the farmers in the region are concerned, it is better late than never.

Thousands of farm animals in the Strandzha region have been marked earmarked for destruction as the new outbreak of foot-and-mouth FMD was detected in the region of Sredets last week.

But the operation to cull the animals was being hampered by a protest organised by stock-breeders who are accused the Government of incompetence and threatened to fight “and risk their own lives” to save their animals.

via Bulgaria to build a fence along Turkish border – official – Bulgaria – The Sofia Echo.