Egypt orders slaughter of all pigs over swine flu

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

CAIRO – Egypt began slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country Wednesday as a precautionary measure against the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been reported here yet, the Health Ministry said.

The move immediately provoked resistance from pig farmers. At one large pig farming center just north of Cairo, farmers refused to cooperate with Health Ministry workers who came to slaughter the animals and the workers left without carrying out the government order.

"It has been decided to immediately start slaughtering all the pigs in Egypt using the full capacity of the country's slaughterhouses," Health Minister Hatem el-Gabaly told reporters after a Cabinet meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt's overwhelmingly Muslim population does not eat pork due to religious restrictions. But the animals are raised and consumed by the Christian minority, which some estimates put at 10 percent of the population.

Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman estimated there were between 300,000-350,000 pigs in Egypt.

Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told reporters that farmers would be allowed to sell the pork meat so there would be no need for compensation.

In 2008, following fears over diseases spread by animals, Mubarak ordered all pig and chicken farms moved out of population areas. But the order was never implemented.

Pigs can be found in many places around Muslim world, often raised by religious minorities who can eat pork. But they are banned entirely in some Muslim countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Libya.

In Jordan, the government decided Wednesday to shut down the country's five pig farms, involving 800 animals, for violating public health safety regulations.

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[almaty 19]

idiots

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Totally.

[almaty 19]

stupid backward idiotic behavior..typical of the middle age response to an issue....

soon,. i am sure..it be blamed on the Zionist...

[LoriLawless 0]

Good grief.

[mRx 16]

I feel sorry for the pig farmers whose livelihood has just been destroyed.

[Bobby+Umit 161]

Wonder if they will start to slaughter people that catch swine flu?

People spread it too...

[Ms. Squirrel 11]

Good bye cute piglet

[Chica Yeyé 41]

idiots.

Good bye cute piglet

OMG!!! I wonder if Piglet is ok?????????? :crying:

[Saddle Bronc 124]

Will they at least sell the pork from the slaughter at a cut-rate?

[tom&tata 2]

I feel sorry for the pig farmers whose livelihood has just been destroyed.

That's my thought too - the farmers. I am sure there there were lots of chicken were slaughtered unnecessarily during SARS too.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

They still have on going bird flu cases and numbers of those dead for this year are in the double digits. Kill all the birdies too?

[tom&tata 2]

They still have on going bird flu cases and numbers of those dead for this year are in the double digits. Kill all the birdies too?

I am not sure about now but I read in Indonesian newspaper about farmers orederd to slaughter & burn chickens during the outbreak of SARS.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

UN agency slams Egypt order to cull all pigs

Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:47pm EDT

* UN agency criticises Egypt order to cull pigs

* Says flu virus is human, not swine

* Renews calls to change "swine flu" name

By Phil Stewart

ROME, April 29 (Reuters) - Egypt's order on Wednesday to cull all the country's pigs is "a real mistake" and another reason why the world needs to rethink using "swine flu" to describe a virus affecting humans, a U.N. agency official said.

Egypt, where pigs are mainly raised by the country's Christian minority, described the order to slaughter the animals as a precautionary measure in a country hard hit by bird flu. Up to 400,000 pigs could be culled, a cabinet spokesman said.

Joseph Domenech, the chief veterinary officer at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, told Reuters his staff were trying to reach Egyptian authorities to correct any confusion about a virus that has killed humans but not been found in pigs.

"It's a real mistake. There is no reason to do that. It's not a swine influenza, it's a human influenza," said Domenech, adding the FAO had been trying to reach Egyptian officials but has so far been unsuccessful.

"There is certainly no support from FAO for that decision."

The new H1N1 flu strain -- a mixture of swine, human and avian flu viruses -- has killed up to 159 people in Mexico and a 23-month-old boy in the United States.

But since no pigs have been found with the disease, groups like the FAO and the Paris-based Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) are lobbying for a name change.

"This is one of the results of this strange way of defining the disease as a swine influenza. That's why the FAO and OIE are fighting to get that name changed because it's a totally undue focus on swine," he said.

Egypt, harder hit by the H5N1 bird flu virus than any other country outside Asia, is deeply worried about the effects of another flu virus after extensive damage to its poultry industry and economy.

Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper said owners of culled pigs could receive 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($177) per animal in compensation, although an Egyptian cabinet spokesman said the issue was still under discussion.

(Additional reporting by Cynthia Johnston in Cairo, Editing by Peter Blackburn)

Source

[mRx 16]

Will they at least sell the pork from the slaughter at a cut-rate?

I'm sure they will have to; That's probably over 15 million lbs of pork that will suddenly enter the market.

More so, animals are considered capital goods to farmers, so not only are they forced to flood their product on the market, but they lose all their invested capital as well.