hankyoreh

By Kim Hyun-dae, Senior Staff Writer　
　　　
Nearly 120 thousand cows and pigs have been buried over the past ten days due to a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, a setback for both animal health and the livestock industry. The outbreak originated in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province.
The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced Wednesday that the total number of buried animals had reached 119,915 animals as of that morning. This falls short of the record set in 2002 with the burial of 160,155 animals over 52 days, but experts say the current epidemic is likely to be far more powerful, as the total reflects burials over a period of just ten days. When factoring in burials from foot-and-mouth outbreaks in Pocheon and Ganghwa, the number of buried animals in 2010 rises to 175,745, surpassing the single-year record set in 2002 by more than 10 thousand. Also setting records are the number of farms that have seen foot-and-mouth cases, totaling 31, and the number of farms where animals have been targeted for burial, totaling 399.
Meanwhile, tensions are high in North Jeolla Province, where H5N1 high-pathogenic avian influenza was detected in serum from two wild ducks captured at the Mangyeong River in Iksan’s Chunpo Township.
　
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