Pigs blocked at the Romanian border with Rep. of Moldova
Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea says pigs blocked for two days at the border with the Republic of Moldova are currently in a safe place, the animals being "taken care of, fed and watered", and representatives of the Romanian Veterinary Authority (ANSVSA) together with the exporter are in Chisinau for the legal settlement of this situation.
"These animals have left for the Republic of Moldova with the right documents from the sanitary-veterinary and legal point of view, but our (Moldovan) brothers have changed the legislation and have not given a deadline for its application. In the moment when the legislation came out it was simply implemented and they did not communicate, they did not notify the neighbouring countries and created an unknown area. Under these circumstances, these animals can no longer be re-imported, because there are very clear sanitary veterinary rules on African swine fever", said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Petre Daea about the situation of the truck loaded with about 200 pigs blocked on Saturday (9/12/2017) in Albita customs (in the neutral area between Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
The Association of Cattle Breeders and Exporters (ACEBOP) announced that a truck loaded with about 200 pigs is blocked in the Albita customs, given that the Moldovan customs has rejected the transport motivating that there is a ban on import of pigs from the EU.
"We have been in a two-day alert amidst the disturbing situation in the Albita customs where a pig export was blocked, without considering what happens to the animals in the truck. As a result, due to a legislative vacuum and an IT system which does not allow for the rerouting of the animals, about 200 pigs are in a situation of dying from cold, hunger and thirst, with significant losses for the Romanian farmer. 4 days ago, the same farmer made a pig transport to Moldova. I do not understand how it is possible in just a few days pigs from the same batch from the same seller to no longer be accepted for delivery on the territory of the neighboring country", says Mary Pană, ACEBOP President.
"There is an overnight order that has not been brought to the attention of the authorities in Romania. We are also assaulted by questions from NGOs, because we are talking about animal welfare and the way they are treated during transport. Our farmer is desperate as he does not understand what is happening, the animals being stuck between the two borders. At the same time, the Romanian authorities say that the TRACES information system does not allow the animals to be redirected to a slaughterhouse in Romania” continued the ACEBOP President.
Source: www.agerpres.ro, 11.12.2017