A large dairy was shut down Wednesday in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, after more than 70 per cent of its cows were diagnosed as having bovine tuberculosis.

More than 400 sick cows were slaughtered yesterday, while the farm's dairy were sealed and prepared for destruction.

The Guangzhou Yunyan Cattle Farm in the city's Baiyun District, used to be one of Guangdong's biggest milk-production bases. The farm had 630 cows at the start of this month and used to produce more than 2 tons of fresh milk every day.

But an investigation was launched after the farm had an outbreak of tuberculosis last week.

The Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Agriculture and Guangdong Provincial Administration of Inspection and Quarantine jointly issued an emergency notice yesterday to say they were launching a province-wide health inspection campaign into Guangdong's cattle and other domestic animals. The campaign will also stress that animal medicines should be managed and used properly.

Guangdong has registered more than 50,000 cows. In Guangzhou alone, there are 125 registered dairies, where more than 18,000 cows are raised.

Earlier this month, the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Agriculture established a special task force that will focus on handling the case and making further investigations.

The outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in Guangdong has prompted China's Ministry of Agriculture to reiterate its pledge that it will come down hard on those who fail to report any animal epidemics in good time and in good faith.

Zhao Weining, a division director with the ministry's Animal Husbandry Bureau, yesterday said any failure to report an animal epidemic would violate the country's Animal Epidemic-Control Law, which was enacted in 1997.

"The incidence of tuberculosis in the Guangzhou Yunyan Dairy is an awfully bad case... Its owners put their interests before the health of the consumers, which can never be tolerated," he told China Daily yesterday evening.

Zhao said his bureau is monitoring the latest case closely.

"Nationwide, there are very few cases of bovine tuberculosis cases, and there has been no large-scale infection among the country's herds of cattle," he said.

(China Daily July 24, 2003)