South Korea has been criticized heavily world wide for burying an estimated number of a million pigs alive due to a spread of mouth and foot disease outbreak. Authorities have already culled over 1,057,939 animals and the Korean Ministry of Food and Agriculture has since ordered the culling of over 1.2 million cloven-hoofed animals, which represents almost 10 percent of total domestic livestock in Korea, online reports confirms. The South Korean government announced on Sunday that tests have confirmed MFD cases on a farm in Cheongwonn province. The disease is estimated to have already infected 50 cities around South Korea. MFD effects animals with hooves such as cows, pigs and goats and prevents the exports of the animal's meat. South Korean animal welfare groups have criticized the government for not dealing properly with the outbreak and instead brutally burying pigs while still living. Reports say there have been 74 reported cases only confirmed on pig and cattle farms, including seven last week. The first case of disease was first confirmed back in November 2010 and the South Korean government has started the mass kill since and some groups say the numbers are far worse than the official reported ones. Other reports estimate more than 660,000 cattle, pigs and other hoofed animals will be killed. The Government's refusal to follow international guidelines and use vaccinations to stop the spread of the disease and killing the animals in an inhumane way have angered many animal welfare groups around the world. “Live vaccinations are the best route but if they do have to kill them we would prefer that they were at least slaughtered humanely.” Michele Danan from the Compassion in World Farming organization told Sky News on January 7. BM
