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His 218 cows will be slaughtered. In question: brucellosis, an infectious disease detected in one of them. But Eric Forestier, breeder of dairy cows in Haute-Savoie is fighting for his herd. He tells.
“They came to tell us that the herd was going to be slaughtered, and that we didn’t have much to say, even nothing.. “
Since the 1990s, total culling on all herds with a case of brucellosis has been introduced. It is an infectious disease originating from a bacterium, the brucella. This disease can remain silent for a very long time in animals. “It’s a big part of our life, of our family“, regrets Eric. On October 20, the breeder learned that a positive milk for brucellosis had been detected.”We absolutely do not tolerate the presence of this bacterium on French territory, at least in domestic herds.“, explains Coralie Amar, veterinarian and breeder support. Since then, Eric has been fighting to avoid losing his cows.
According to Coralie Amar, the herd does not involve any risk: “There are lots of analyzes that are done and that prove it, that there are no risks. Milk is negative, animals are negative“, she assures. The argument used here is that it is about a disease which can incubate for a long time before declaring itself. The veterinarian believes that it would therefore be necessary to carry out serologies regularly to possibly ascertain a surge of antibodies. “It is something that the state services refuse to do, they refuse to seek, they refuse to know, they prefer to cover up the affair.“, she lambasted.
The regulations provide for financial compensation, a solution that the breeder and his family refuse. Since the discovery of the disease, Eric continues to sell his milk, which is now pasteurized.