The blue tongue nightmare returns to Sardinia, bluetongue.
According to Coldiretti data , 12 thousand animals are already involved, 11 dead, seven active outbreaks, 28 suspects and 32 extinct with data unfortunately continuously updated.
Active outbreaks are found in the lower Oristano area and in Ogliastra . The suspects are mainly in Sulcis, while many of those already extinct were found in north-central Sardinia and in particular in the western part.
Last year, even if it did not reach the dramatic percentages (between heads involved and deaths) - argues Coldiretti - of the heavy waves that have afflicted the sheep and goat sector for over twenty years, more than 30 thousand sheep died and over 1 million were involved.
The Region under pressure from Coldiretti Sardinia in the end allocated 7.1 million euros which have not yet arrived in the pockets of the shepherds despite the fact that the Agricultural Organization had presented a system that would have made it possible to liquidate the practices in a few weeks.
"There is no time to waste - says the president of Coldiretti Sardinia, Battista Cualbu - it is essential to immediately take action with an emergency plan that limits the spread of the blue language and its harmful effects to a minimum, which unfortunately we know well, avoiding the final blow for a sector afflicted by the high prices and the heavy economic crisis we are experiencing. In addition to the shepherds, the virus also affects cattle farmers, true reservoirs of the virus and indirect victims with the continuous blockages of the movement that involves the tests of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), with a cost of about 25 euros, and treatment with repellents in the seven days preceding the departure of the animal ".
(Unioneonline / D)
