Farmers call for French blockades over cow disease cull
Angry French farmers are calling for more protests against the government-sponsored slaughter of cattle herds affected by Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).
Clashes broke out between riot police and demonstrators in the southern Ariège region on Thursday after veterinarians were called to destroy potentially contaminated cattle on a farm.
Elsewhere in the South, farmers dumped manure outside government buildings and blocked roads. The offices of several environmental groups were searched in the Charente-Maritime department.
LSD is a highly contagious cattle disease transmitted mainly through fly bites. Symptoms are fever, mucal discharge and nodules on the skin.
Although it is not usually fatal, it can badly affect milk production and render cows unsellable.
The disease came to Europe from Africa about a decade ago. France’s first outbreak emerged in the Alps in June, when an infected herd was forced to migrate. One of the stages of the Tour de France cycling race will be cut short.
The government’s policy of slaughtering entire herds where a single animal is infected has met with fierce opposition from two of the three major farmers’ unions.
Conféderation Rurale and Conféderation Paysanne say the policy is being implemented brutally and is unnecessary in any case, as a combination of selective culling and vaccination would be sufficient.
But most veterinarians disagree.
“Right now we can’t tell the difference between a healthy animal and an asymptomatic animal carrying the virus. That’s the only reason we have to slaughter the entire herd,” said Stephanie Philizot, who heads the SNGTV veterinarians union.
There have been around 110 LSD outbreaks in France since June, initially in the east but now increasingly in the southwest. Ministry officials blame the illegal transportation of cattle from affected areas. Nearly 3000 animals were slaughtered.
The French government is concerned that the protests could snowball into a broader movement among the farming population, which feels increasingly threatened by the imposition of EU norms and competition from abroad.
A major protest is planned during the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels next week. Many French agricultural sectors are in deep crisis, from wine producers hit by a decline in consumption to poultry farmers hit by bird flu.
There is also widespread opposition to the imminent signing of an EU free trade agreement with South American countries, which farmers fear will open France to cheaper food imports, much of which is produced under looser environmental and health restrictions.
