Livestock

A long-awaited draft report on animal rights that will be submitted to the parliament on Oct. 4 calls for the "immediate" use of electric cars on Istanbul's Princes' Islands in an attempt to protect the horses used for carriage rides on the islands.

Payment of one-off aid of 300 BGN to farmers who have taken measures to clean and disinfect their farms after complying with orders to cull domestic pigs will begin after September 1, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency said on August 21, writes BNT.

Owners of domestic pigs from the region of Parvomai will stage another protest against the order for the compulsory culling of "back yard" pigs as a step against the African Swine Fever outbreaks in the country. They plan to close the traffic on Haskovo-Svilengrad-Istanbul international road, reports BNT. 

From today, employees of the Food Safety Agency will begin checks on the private farms of people in the 20-kilometer surveillance zone. The aim is to determine whether farmers have voluntarily killed their domestic pigs.

The deadline expired on Friday. In the Plovdiv region the villages around the Industrial Zone of Rakovski, Stryama and Belozem will be checked first.

Industrial pig farmers on August 2 called for declaring a state of emergency in the whole of Bulgaria due to the spread of African Swine Fever.

Supported by representatives of meat production, meat processing, and grain producers, they demanded even stricter measures to halt the spread of the virus, which is about to cause huge economic losses to the country.

Farmers from Pazardzhik protest in the center of the regional town, disagreeing with the imposed voluntary slaughter of pigs in the "back yard".

Today was the deadline for most of the districts in the country to slaughter the pigs in private farms.

The damages from the African Swine Fever will inevitably lead to an increase in the price of the pork. The forecast is from the Association of Industrial Pig Breeders.

Bulgarian Food Safety Agency on Saturday confirmed the first outbreak of African swine fever in an industrial farm in the country.

A total of about 17,000 pigs are fattened in the farm, which is located in the village of Nikolovo near Danube River in Ruse Region, the agency said in a statement.

From 100 to 1000 levs to increase the penalty for walking an aggressive dog without a muzzle, MPs voted unanimously at first reading the deputies from the agricultural commission in the Parliament. The changes are proposed by GERB and are laid down in the Veterinary Act.

They also provide a fine of BGN 300 for a dog without leash, which is over 5 kilograms.

Animal rights activists announced they will hold a rally outside the Greek embassy in Washington, DC on Thursday at noon (local time)  to call for an end to Santorini's donkey rides.
The group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) described the practice as "notoriously inhumane," pointing to a damning eyewitness investigation by the group's German chapter.