The sheep belonging to a Gozitan farmer, Ganni Attard, will get to live after all.

A court decision this morning by judge Anna Felice lays down a number of conditions that have to be applied, while an earlier ruling by an inferior court against their culling has been upheld.

The conditions include ear-tagging of all the animals, the sterilisation of the male sheep (tup), the collection of any milk to be destroyed and an electronic control of the herd every month.

Any sheep that die must be disposed of by the Veterinary Services Department and any sick animals must be put down under the supervision of the department.

Another condition is that the sheep are kept in an environment that is regulated according to the law.

All the conditions are at the expense of the farmer. The court also ruled that Mr Attard must provide a bank guarantee of 10,000 euros.

Mr Attard has six days in which to consider appealing the judgment.

Contacted by The Malta Independent, Mr Attard said that he is satisfied that his sheep have been spared.

The tagging of the sheep started this morning.

Some 80 officers from the Veterinary Services were called to cull the sheep in March, despite a provisional court injunction application being filed. But their action was later halted after the injunction was upheld, by which time three sheep had already been killed.

Sheep culling stopped

Court case developments