Some 80 officers from the Veterinary Services were culling a herd of sheep in Gozo this morning, despite a provisional court injunction application being filed on Tuesday. But their action was later halted after the injunction was upheld.

Three of the sheep had however already been killed. The rest of the herd, which had been taken away from the farm in the morning (video below), were returned to their owner in two batches this afternoon (video above). 

Early this morning, Gianni Attard, the farmer who has been at the centre of a controversy which has also ended up in court, told The Malta Independent that the officials moved in this morning and had “started to kill my sheep”. 

The culling, however, was stopped after three sheep had been culled. This came about after a fresh court order for the culling to stop pending a final decision by the courts.

By then, Mr Attard's sheep had already been loaded onto trucks and taken to the slaughterhouse and were being kept there. Mr Attard's lawyer Dr Joshua Grech filed a court application, and it was ordered that the sheep be sent back to Mr Attard's land. The sheep were returned in the afternoon.

The matter came to a head in 2012 when the herd was not registered, which led to the culling of 216 sheep. A court battle ensued in which Mr Attard is trying to save the remaining 300. 

The courts have consistently ruled against Mr Attard in the interests of public safety. 

The government said in a statement this evening that 30 unregistered animals from three different farms were culled today following decisions by the courts.

It said in one case (above), veterinary department officers had encountered resistance by the owner, who sought an injunction by the courts. The injunction was accepted and the operation to cull the sheep had to be postponed. By the time the court had delivered a ruling a small number of animals had been culled at the Gozo abattoir. The rest of the animals had been transported to Malta for lack of a better place to keep them in Gozo.

The government said it did not exclude that there would be repercussions on the animals’ health as a result of the injunction.

It said that the courts had always decided in favour of the department in cases of unregistered animals, for reasons of public health. The European Commission had also said that: “Reintroduction of these animals into the food chain by ‘retrospectively registering and identifying’ them and ‘sanitizing’ them would, in principle go against elementary principles of animal health and food safety, as it would be nearly impossible to exclude risks for animal and Public health.”

The Veterinary Services Department said it would reply to the injunction within 48 hours. If the decision is in line with two previous rulings given by the Maltese courts the department will move in to take immediate action and close the chapter that has been open since 2012 and has cost the Maltese taxpayer hundreds of thousands of euro. The department said it took the issue of food traceability seriously and is committed to ensure that public health is not compromised.