By Alfred Koroma
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS) has temporally banned movement of cattle, goats, and sheep along its border with Liberia.
The Ministry has also prohibited the entrance of meat and meat products from Liberia into Sierra Leone, and restricts the movement of the livestock and meat products from Kailahun, Kenema and Pujehun to other districts within Sierra Leone.
The move follows reports of mass deaths of cattle in the neighbouring country. Earlier this month, 36 cows were found dead in the cow fields along the Foya- Mendekorma Highway at the Liberian town of Kelima Bendu, four miles away from the border with Kailahun District, Sierra Leone.
In addition to the preventive measures taken, the Ministry and partners have also put in place surveillance measures in slaughterhouses, for sick animals and humans with signs and symptoms of anthrax in Kailahun, Kenema and Pujehun, according to a press statement from the Ministry. All livestock markets in the three Sierra Leonean Districts have been ordered to close.
The measures have been instituted as a team of coordinated inter-governmental animal health specialists under the ONE HEALTH PLATFORM in neighboring Liberia investigates the death of 36 cattle in the Liberian town which lies closer to Sierra Leone.
