New Zealand - 150,000 Cows Will Be Slaughtered To Stop Bacterial Disease (Video)

Up until now, New Zealand was one of the only countries in the world free from Mycoplasma bovis, a bacterial disease affecting it’s livestock. With the disease popping up in about 1% of its cattle, politicians and industry leaders took the ambitious step to kill some 150,000 cows over the next ten years in order to fully eradicate it.

Given the isolationist position of New Zealand, it’s farming industry has mostly been protected from diseases which affect herds elsewhere.

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However, this latest plan also means that some in the farming industry have expressed concerns for the mental health of those people whose cattle is infected.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Officials say they plan to kill all cows on any farms where the bacteria are found, even if some of the animals are healthy.<a href="https://t.co/BUOkp8GuE5">https://t.co/BUOkp8GuE5</a></p>&mdash; Globalnews.ca (@globalnews) <a href="https://twitter.com/globalnews/status/1001110401919143937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: “We don’t know, in the long-term, what impact it could collectively have on an industry that is incredibly important to New Zealand’s economy.”

“So if we have an opportunity to be the country that eradicates this disease, then we’ll take it.”

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New Zealand’s livestock industry is of vital importance to the country. Some 10 million cows call it home, which is double the size of its human population. The country’s largest single export product is milk, with much of it sold to China and used in infant formula for babies.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New Zealand plans to slaughter about 150,000 cows to end a bacterial disease <a href="https://t.co/7HHYFVBwtG">https://t.co/7HHYFVBwtG</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tictocnews?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#tictocnews</a> <a href="https://t.co/tFgmH1ucZg">pic.twitter.com/tFgmH1ucZg</a></p>&mdash; TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) <a href="https://twitter.com/tictoc/status/1001300903293579264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2018</a></blockquote>

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Ms Katie Milne who represents farmers via her advocacy group Federated Farmers claimed that her members understood the measures, but hoped that the people who would have to kill off their cattle would also be taken care off. Ms Milne: “This is a tough time, and the pain and anguish they’re going to go through is really hideous.”

“And we have to support them as neighbours, community members, farmers, friends.”

Source:

http://www.news.com.au/world/new-zealand-to-kill-150000-cows-to-end-bacterial-disease-as-fears-raised-about-farmer-welfare/news-story/a1f9db1c3e82f0ea080d87b870b4f30d