Nearly 800 bulls, sent back from Algeria to France following an administrative imbroglio, were slaughtered over the weekend in Aveyron, the Ministry of Agriculture confirmed to AFP on Sunday.

The herd had left Sète on September 3 in the direction of the port of Algiers, where it never obtained authorization to land from the Algerian authorities and remained for more than two weeks.

According to the French authorities, a "difficulty in interpreting" the health status of three animals caused the blockage.

The bulls had been vaccinated against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR).

However, documents attached to their export certificate bore the mention “IBR positive”, falsely suggesting that they were carriers of the virus, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Animals slaughtered even if none were sick

After “fruitless discussions”, France ultimately decided to bring the boat back and slaughter these 780 animals under the European protocol linked to foot-and-mouth disease.

The slaughter was decided as a precaution because the animals had been fed at the port of Algiers with hay produced in Algeria, a country not free from foot-and-mouth disease, the ministry explained.

The animals had returned Thursday off Sète.

Before disembarking, a French veterinary inspection took place on board, which revealed no sick animals.

"The results of the analyzes and the veterinary visit did not show any sign of contamination with foot-and-mouth disease", declared the prefecture of Hérault.

An agricultural cooperative 

Slaughtering operations in a slaughterhouse of the Unicor cooperative in Rodez (Aveyron) then rendering in two other departments took place over the weekend.

"The operation is over," the ministry said on Sunday.

The Aveyron cooperative confirmed in a press release that it had been requisitioned by the prefecture to slaughter "part" of the bulls, and that it "had no other choice but to respond to this injunction".

"UNICOR deplores this situation both from the point of view of animal welfare and respect for the work of French breeders", denounced the cooperative.


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