16,000 Farm Animals to Be Slaughtered over Fear of Foot and Mouth Disease

16,000 Farm Animals to Be Slaughtered over Fear of Foot and Mouth DiseaseAbout 16,000 farm animals would be culled out of the west of Seoul after an outbreak of a highly transmittable foot and mouth disease spread in the region.

The agriculture Ministry shared that cattle on a farm on Ganghwa Island tested positive for the virus on Thursday. In addition to that two more cases of the disease have been confirmed. The officials also restricted movement of the people and vehicles in the area, as soon as the threat of the disease was detected.

The Ministry said, "The ministry decided to step up preventative culling to stop the disease from spreading. All cloven hoofed animals within three kilometers of the first contaminated farm would be culled".

About 4000 cattle and 12,000 pigs will be butchered in 140 farms. This kind of a disease affects animals such as cattle, pigs, deer, goats and sheep. The virus multiplies between animals, through the air. There is no chance of its transmission to humans.

Pork and beef exports have been halted by South Korea in January this year when the occurrence of the disease was confirmed in Pocheon, in the north east of Seoul.