Vyborny: Czech Republic Helping Slovakia Tackle Foot-and-mouth Disease

Brussels, March 24 (TASR-correspondent) - The Czech Republic is assisting Slovakia in foot-and-mouth disease-affected zones with a mobile livestock culling unit, said Czech Agriculture Minister Marek Vyborny in Brussels on Monday on the sidelines of a meeting of the EU Agriculture Council. Vyborny stated that the foot-and-mouth disease situation is serious, confirming that he's discussed the developments in Brussels with Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD), with whom he has been in close contact since Friday (March 21), when Slovakia discovered three sites affected by the disease. "We dealt with the assistance provided by the Czech Republic by phone. On the basis of these informal discussions, we've provided a mobile slaughterhouse from the State Material Reserves of the Czech Republic, which left for Slovakia on Saturday afternoon and has been involved in livestock culling since Sunday morning. Along with this unit, we have two veterinarians operating this equipment," said the Czech minister. "We all hope that they can manage the situation so that the disease doesn't spread further, because it's a great danger; not for humans, but it is fatal for breeders. Transmission is very simple, the disease reached Slovakia via the Danube, probably by wind," said the head of the Czech Agriculture Ministry. am/df