"Culling can only be a mandatory, not optional, measure that the competent authority is required to adopt." Furthermore, action must be taken "as soon as possible to avoid any risk of spreading the pathogen during and after culling." The vaccine "cannot be an alternative."

Sardinia's Regional Administrative Court (TAR) fails to save Sardinia's cattle: the administrative judges denied the appeal of a farmer with a farm between Orani and Sarule. He had requested the suspension of the slaughter order—issued by the Nuoro Local Health Authority—for all his animals. These included those suffering from bovine dermatitis, and therefore infected, as well as those that did not test positive but belong to the same farm.

In a decree published this afternoon, the president of the Regional Administrative Court (TAR), Mario Buricelli, rejected the preliminary injunction. A decision on the merits is expected in September.

The provision emphasizes that "vaccination," in situations like the one at the center of the appeal, "characterized by the confirmation of the presence of category A disease, in a context in which, among other things, asymptomatic animals can still harbor the LSD virus, is not contemplated as an eradication measure alternative to culling."