12 Nov 2013

Parliament has heard that monitoring of diseases which affect wildlife animals such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is a very costly and logistically challenging exercise.

Responding to a question in Parliament, Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi, said this was due to nature of the required resources such as helicopters, darting equipment, specialised drugs, pilots and veterinarians.

He said the ministry undertook structured surveys every 10 years or earlier subject to availability of resources. Mr Molebatsi noted that the last structured FMD survey in wildlife was done in the Chobe National Park and Moremi Game Reserve in 2011.

“The ministry also undertakes FMD surveys in wildlife during FMD outbreaks, the recent survey being in September 2013, following the outbreak of FMD in the North East District in 2011. The Ministry also conducts surveillance during the culling of animals or any other wildlife capture opportunity that may arise,” said the assistant minister.

He further stated that  these strategies have been found to be adequate and have worked very well to date while they are also recognized by World Health Organisation for Animal Health which set standards for animal disease surveillance. Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone had asked what strategies were in place to monitor cloven-hoofed wildlife in Botswana since they were also affected by the FMD. ENDS