Philippinies lifts ban on U.S. goats importation

The Philippines has lifted the temporary ban on the importation of goats from the United States nearly four months after it prohibited the entry of the farm animal from America due to detection of Q fever. In his Memorandum Order No. 43, series of 2024, issued on October 8, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. directed to lift the ban issued in June. With this, Tiu Laurel said that “all import transactions of the above commodity shall be in accordance with existing rules and regulations of the DA.” The prohibition on the entry of live goats from the US was ordered due to positive detection of human-transmissible Q fever on imported goats. Following the detection, the DA’s Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) culled over five dozens of goats from the US. However, in his latest memorandum order, Tiu Laurel noted that “there has been no reported case of Q fever in the United States of America,” citing a report from the World Organization for Animal Health on Animal Disease ...