Everything is silent on the Blue tongue, according to Confagricoltura. Who calls the Region to give answers on contrast actions: « Are there the funds for the purchase and administration of vaccines? Will we be able to carry out the treatments by May so as to avoid problems on pregnant sheep and above all interventions during the cyclical recovery of bluetongue outbreaks during the summer? Is there a timetable and a detailed picture of the number of veterinarians to be mobilized for vaccinations?».
These are the questions addressed to the Councilor for Health, Carlo Doria by the president of Confagricoltura Sassari and Olbia-Tempio, Stefano Taras, who will recall how keeping bluetongue under control means «guaranteeing the free movement of animals also to the beef sector especially towards overseas fattening points'.
«It would be desirable», continues Taras, «that the Department of Health, the territorial ASLs, the regional coordination of animal health and the Department of Agriculture collaborate, each according to their own competences, so that the prevention activities are started on time useful. The delays in vaccinations , which should follow the progress of the Blue Tongue through the surveys by the sentinel leaders present in various areas of Sardinia, are one of the determining factors in the spread of the disease".
The position of Daria Inzaina, regional manager of the beef cattle section of Confagricoltura Sardinia, is of the same tone: «For over twenty years, since the Blue Tongue landed on the island at the beginning of 2000, the beef cattle sector has been paying a very high price in terms of restrictions and damage due to handling blocks. It is therefore unthinkable that epidemiological management is always very late: we are in the second half of February and everything is silent in the Region ».
(Unioneonline)
