Incheon City Launches Animal Medical Support Teams to Aid Livestock Farms During Summer Damages

On July 31, the Incheon City government announced that it would be operating an Animal Medical Support Team to respond to damages faced by livestock farms due to summer heatwaves and diseases.

The city has formed two Animal Medical Support Teams, consisting of livestock quarantine officers from the Animal Health Testing Laboratory under the Health and Environment Research Institute, contract veterinarians designated by county and district offices, and veterinarians from local livestock agricultural cooperatives. One team will be dispatched to Ganghwa County, while the other will serve regions outside of Ganghwa County.

If a livestock farm requests support through the county or district offices, the team will be dispatched to the site to assess the situation and examine the animals to determine whether disease infection has occurred through clinical observation. If necessary, the team will provide emergency medical support for the affected livestock and also supply veterinary medicines and quarantine supplies, with the aim of minimizing damages to the farms.

Disinfection activities are being carried out to prevent the outbreak of livestock diseases. Provided by Incheon City

As of January of this year, there are a total of 766 livestock farms in the Incheon area, with Ganghwa County accounting for the largest share at 613 farms. The number of livestock farms by animal type is as follows: 562 Korean beef cattle farms (17,560 heads), 85 dairy cattle farms (2,527 heads), 13 pig farms (24,494 heads), and 91 chicken farms (759,432 birds).

Kim Myung-hee, Director of the Health and Environment Research Institute of Incheon City, stated, "We will do our utmost in operating the Animal Medical Support Teams so that we can swiftly respond to livestock diseases and health problems caused by summer disasters, such as heatwaves and torrential rain. We will also make every effort in quarantine management to prevent the spread of livestock diseases and reduce damages to livestock farms."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.