Thua Thien Hue tightens the control of livestock transportation activities

Thua Thien - Hue is one of the largely populated localities. In particular, Hue city is the central urban area of the region, so people's daily demand for animal products is immense. The local livestock industry is not developed enough to satisfy the demand. This explains the city’s big imports of both frozen and live animal products from neighboring provinces for consumption, hence more pressure on local management of cattle and poultry diseases.

To carry out inspection and quarantine for livestock and products transported to the locality, Thua Thien - Hue Sub-Department of Livestock Production and Animal Health established 2 checkpoints: the South Thua Thien - Hue quarantine checkpoint (located in Loc Son commune, Phu Loc district), and the North Thua Thien - Hue quarantine checkpoint (located in Phong Thu commune, Phong Dien district).

At each checkpoint, there are regularly 2 staff on duty 24/7 to inspect vehicles transporting livestock and livestock products in and out of the province One of them is the local officer stationed at the checkpoint, and the other is an auxiliary officer from the Sub-department of Livestock Production and Animal Health.

According to Bui Van Tuyen, an officer at the South Thua Thien - Hue quarantine checkpoint, the work at the checkpoint is to conduct inspection and stamp permission to transport livestock from provinces of the Southern region and Central Highland. Slaughterhouses in Thua Thien - Hue mainly import goods from the southern provinces, so officers at the South Thua Thien - Hue quarantine checkpoint are fairly busy, especially during peak holiday periods.

As for the North Thua Thien - Hue quarantine checkpoint, recently there have been cases of smuggled poultry in the Northern provinces, so officers at the checkpoint always remain focused in order not to let vehicles bring livestock from outside the province without being inspected.

“According to regulations, when vehicles transporting livestock from other provinces into Thua Thien - Hue, the checkpoint will be notified. Officers at the checkpoint will conduct clinical examinations to see whether livestock has signs of disease,” said Le van Hoang, an officer working at the North Thua Thien - Hue quarantine checkpoint.

There is also a mandatory requirement. The vehicle owner must present a certificate of disease-free livestock facility or farm meeting veterinary hygiene standards. Pigs must have negative test results for African swine fever before they are allowed to be imported. After completing the inspection, the trunk must be sealed by a veterinary officer. The shipment will be issued with an animal quarantine certificate before being transported to the place of consumption.

Hoang mentions a current problem where vehicle owners still do not declare when importing livestock into the locality. Although there are some isolated cases, the risks of disease spreading are undeniable. To avoid those scenarios, the awareness of vehicle owners remains a prerequisite.

Director of the Thua Thien - Hue Sub-Department of Livestock Production and Animal Health Nguyen Van Hung said, “Apart from a number of measures such as strict control of slaughterhouses and improving vaccination rates, quarantine work for livestock transported from outside the province is always carried out thoroughly while following procedures, thus ensuring full information about product origin”.

Tight quarantine procedures have brought positive results in local disease prevention work. The proof is that since the beginning of the year, despite complicated developments of the epidemic situation on a national scale, Thua Thien - Hue province has not recorded any cases of dangerous epidemics such as bird flu, foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, or even lumpy skin disease.

“Leaders of the Sub-department constantly require officers at quarantine checkpoints to stay vigilant and comply with the full two-way information check on the export and import locations of livestock entering the province. If an epidemic occurs, the unit will closely coordinate with the Traffic Police, Environmental Police, and Market Management officers to organize inspection of the transportation of livestock and livestock products at traffic hubs on National Highway 1A and quarantine checkpoints at both ends of the province to prevent the livestock or poultry disease outbreak," said Director Hung.