{"id":622907,"date":"2025-12-09T22:02:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T22:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/622907\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T22:02:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T22:02:24","slug":"some-animal-movements-to-be-relaxed-after-bluetongue-virus-outbreak-in-co-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/622907\/","title":{"rendered":"Some animal movements to be relaxed after bluetongue virus outbreak in Co Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two 20km Temporary Control Zones (TCZs) have been set up in Co Down near Bangor and Greyabbey, where outbreaks have been confirmed or are suspected.<\/p>\n

Livestock movements there remain restricted, except for direct-to-slaughter transfers with a licence.<\/p>\n

But outside these temporary control zones, farmers can now move animals to Great Britain for any purpose \u2013 slaughter, markets, breeding, and production \u2013 under normal rules.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

DUP MP urges \u2018vigilance\u2019 as first confirmed Bluetongue cases spark strict control measures across Northern Ireland<\/p>\n

Moving animals into the zones is allowed with a downloadable license from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).<\/p>\n

A direct-to-slaughter transfer is when livestock is moved straight from a farm to a slaughterhouse, without stopping at markets, other farms, or for breeding purposes.<\/p>\n

Chief Veterinary Officer Brian Dooher said the changes reflect the current \u201cvector low period\u201d \u2013 when biting midges, which spread the virus, are less active.<\/p>\n

He noted that Bluetongue poses no public health or food safety risk, though it can cause severe symptoms in sheep.<\/p>\n

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Bluetongue is primarily transmitted through biting midges and affects cattle, sheep, goats, deer, llamas and alpacas.<\/p>\n

Biting midges are most active from April to November and the potential for spread depends on climatic conditions and wind patterns.<\/p>\n

DAERA continues to monitor the situation and will advise on future movements within and out of the temporary control zones.<\/p>\n

A second suspected case of Bluetongue was identified on a farm close to Greyabbey at the weekend.<\/a><\/p>\n

It follows the confirmation of more than 40 cases of the virus within a herd close to Bangor last week.<\/p>\n

For more information and licences, farmers can visit the DAERA website.<\/p>\n

The General Licence for the movement of animals into the Temporary Control Zones (TCZs) can be accessed online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two 20km Temporary Control Zones (TCZs) have been set up in Co Down near Bangor and Greyabbey, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[23668,1384,23669,5825,1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-622907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-department-of-agriculture","9":"tag-down-news","10":"tag-environment-rural-affairs-daera","11":"tag-niamh-campbell","12":"tag-northern-ireland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}