Outbreak caused by smuggled cattle
TUMPAT: The cattle smuggling across the Malaysia-Thailand border in Kelantan has been identified as the cause of the outbreak of foot and mouth disease among cattle in Malaysia.
Veterinary Services Department director-general Datuk Quaza Nizamuddin Hassan Nizam said this was because cows brought into the country illegally had not undergone the necessary quarantine process and vaccinations.
“As of April this year, there were 10 cases of foot and mouth disease involving cattle nationwide. This is a big number as there were only 35 cases reported last year.
“Most of the cases occurred in Pahang, Johor and Melaka. We found that these cases mostly involved cattle from Kelantan, which were brought into the country illegally from Thailand,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters after officiating the Tumpat district livestock breeders conference, which was attended by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries minister’s special functions officer Wan Johari Wan Omar and Kelantan Veterinary Services Department director Suratan Kamarudin.
The New Straits Times on Monday reported that the General Operations Force (GOF) seized more than 300 cows, goats and sheep worth almost RM1 million which were smuggled into Kelantan via Sungai Golok over the weekend.
GOF believed that the number of smuggled livestock was expected to increase in the coming days due to the demand for meat ahead of Hari Raya.
Smugglers, said the agency, took the opportunity of high demand from locals to smuggle the livestock.
GOF officers also found that most of the smuggled cattle had fake ear tags to make them appear to be legally certified.
Quaza said Malaysia currently supplied only 23 per cent of its own meat to the local market.
“Livestock production has been static in recent years. We hope that more Malaysians will get involved in this industry as there is large demand here for livestock,” he said.