00:00According to reports, authorities recently intercepted 35 sheep and 7 goats, allegedly
00:07being smuggled into the country. The animals were later called after veterinary officials
00:13reported that they were infected with a communicable disease.
00:17Today, President of the Farmers' Union Shiraz Khan says, while there are unscrupulous individuals
00:23willing to traffic and to sell sick animals, farmers remain deeply concerned about the
00:29lack of transparent and reliable testing systems locally.
00:34You know that the chemistry, food and drugs lab, who's supposed to be testing for anything
00:39that is imported into this country, that is for human consumption, has to be tested.
00:45Since 2014, that lab has been shut down.
00:48He tells the Morning Edition, sheep and goat farmers have been neglected for years.
00:53And are now operating under increasing pressure with little support and limited avenues for
01:00legal importation of livestock.
01:02The reason why we can't legally bring in animals from Venezuela and Guyana is because the U.S.
01:08have them listed as being put on more disease present.
01:14So they can't get a permit to legally import animals from Venezuela or even Guyana.
01:20So the communicable disease is, I'm not disputing it, but we have to be careful about having
01:25to understand what it is.
01:27Khan is now calling for stronger monitoring systems and proper livestock identification measures.
01:33We need to get the vets to go around like what they were doing before, and they do need an
01:39inspection
01:40of animals.
01:41We need to get the animals tagged for rabies.
01:44We need the animals to be vaccinated for yonis.
01:47We need the animals to be able to be identified properly because there's a system.
01:52Nicola M. Romany, TV6 News.
01:55Nicola M. Romany, TV6 News.
01:55Nicola M. Romany, TV6 News.
01:56You
01:58You
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