The Council of Agriculture (COA) may have covered up an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Changhua County by delaying a public announcement of the outbreak for 10 days in February 2009, according to archives at an agency in the county.
Information from Changhua County’s Animal Disease Control Center showed that on Feb. 8, 2009, an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was discovered at a pig farm in the county’s Beidou Township (北斗) when its owners discovered about 20 pigs exhibiting symptoms of the disease.
The information showed that the center, upon being informed of the outbreak, dispatched inspectors to the farm and confirmed the disease. The center notified the council and on Feb. 9, 23 pigs that showed signs of the disease were culled, adding that a ban was also imposed on the movement of livestock from that pig farm.
However, the council did not publicize the incident at the time.
It was not until Feb. 18, when the outbreak escalated and the center culled another 586 pigs from the same farm, that the council announced an outbreak of the O-type foot-and-mouth disease in Changhua County and informed the World Organisation for Animal Health.
The allegation follows a recent admission from council Deputy Minister Hu Sing-hwa (胡興華), who said the council’s subordinate agencies delayed the handling of two bird flu outbreaks. Hu, however, denied a cover-up in both cases.
Hu on Monday said the council probed five avian influenza outbreaks between 2008 and this year and found irregularities in the handling of two cases, adding that the council would investigate for administrative liability.
The five cases include one in then-Sinshih Township (新市) in former Tainan county in March 2009, one in Fangyuan Township (芳苑), Changhua County, in late December last year and another in Lioujia District (六甲), Greater Tainan, last month.
Tai Yu-yen (戴玉燕), convener of the council’s investigative committee, said it was “obvious negligence” that neither the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine or the Animal Health Research Institute requested the owner of the Sinshih farm to follow up in accordance with standard procedures.
Additional reporting by CNA
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