Farmer Gianni Attard. Photo: Matthew Xuereb

Gozitan farmer Gianni Attard is set to appeal a magistrate’s decision that cleared the way for the slaughter of 220 sheep at his Għarb farm.

He felt aggrieved that Magistrate Josette Demicoli did not decide about the fate of his herd but simply ruled that the veterinary authorities’ decision to cull his unregistered animals was taken within the parameters of the law because of an automatic suspicion that they were ill.

Times of Malta reported yesterday that a court had revoked an order stopping Mr Attard’s herd from being culled, deeming the move justified to safeguard public health.

Contacted yesterday, Mr Attard insisted he had been telling the authorities since July 2010 to register and tag the sheep but claimed the court had ignored this fact.

He noted that vet Frank Galea had testified that Mr Attard had gone to speak to him about registering the animals on his farm.

In November 2012, the authorities had culled 216 of his sheep while Mr Attard was under arrest at the Victoria police station in connection with the registration issue of the animals.

Mr Attard had filed an urgent case for an injunction in an attempt to stop the Department of Veterinary Services from slaughtering the animals.

The culled sheep, estimated to cost in the region of €520,000, had been tested and none of them were sick.

He said the authorities had never tested any of the sheep he had on his farm and neither did they ever accede to his request to have them tagged and registered.

The court ruled that, according to law, all livestock, irrespective of age, had to be tagged before being transferred from one farm to another and this for traceability purposes.

Furthermore, a farmer had to keep a register of the number of sheep he owned, updated with births and deaths.

Any unregistered animal was automatically presumed to be sick because its origins could not be traced. This constituted a public health hazard.