A Gozitan farmer involved in a legal battle to save his sheep from being culled has had all social services halted amid suspicions he is running an economic activity.

The Social Security Department wrote to Gianni Attard informing him that his unemployment, medical and supplementary allowances had been stopped and he was also asked to refund almost €17,000 in handouts he received since 2010.

“The director [of social security] is not satisfied that you are not involved in a commercial activity,” he was told.

Through his lawyer, Joseph Mifsud, Mr Attard is demanding an explanation on what commercial activity the Director of Social Services was claiming he was running from his Għarb farm.

He has appealed the Social Services Department’s decision, including the request for refunds.

The department wants Mr Attard to refund €11,436 in unemployment benefits paid between October 2011 and January this year; €4,300 in medical allowances paid between July 2010 and January this year and €660 he received in supplementary allowances since July 2011.

Mr Attard, 51, of Għarb, has been receiving unemployment benefits for some 20 years and medical allowances for about 10 years.

It resulted in court that, in 2010, Mr Attard had bought 70 sheep when they were only three days old. He had exchanged them for bales of hay because the owner of the registered sheep did not want cash. Since then, the herd multiplied and grew to more than 400.

Mr Attard is insisting he had been telling the authorities since July 2010 to register the sheep and tag them but his repeated requests fell on deaf ears.

In October, he had been fined €1.7 million for failing to register his sheep.

Mr Attard hit the headlines in November 2012 when he began his legal battle to stop the veterinary services from culling more of his sheep after 216 had already been put down while he was being held under arrest at the Victoria police station.

‘Crusade’ by authorities

The culled sheep, most of which were pregnant and in their prime, were worth up to €520,000, he said.

The court case, which will determine whether the authorities can proceed with culling the rest of the herd, is still pending.

Unregistered animals are automatically presumed sick, although Mr Attard insists his sheep are healthy.

His remaining sheep are now confined to his farm in Għarb and are under the surveillance of two police officers 24 hours a day. This round-the-clock surveillance is costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of euros.

The police presence is meant to ensure that the sheep do not leave the farm.

Mr Attard last week filed a judicial protest against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Welfare, Roderick Galdes, and the Director General of the Veterinary Services Department, Anthony Gruppetta.

He is holding them responsible for damages he is suffering as a result of the department’s “hard-headedness” not to test and tag his remaining sheep.

Mr Attard complained about the “crusade” the authorities were waging against him and his sheep, which, he insisted, had financial, psychological and moral consequences.

He said that, over the past 15 months, the department had enough time to place the sheep in quarantine to check them individually.

Lawyer Carmelo Galea singed his protest.