Indonesia’s first foot-and-mouth outbreak in 36 years threatens to upend Eid ul-Adha celebrations

Hundreds of thousands of animals have caught the contagious viral disease, significantly dampening sales ahead of the Islamic ‘Festival of Sacrifice’

Until two months ago, the Southeast Asian nation had been free of foot-and-mouth disease since 1986. More than 3,400 animals have been culled so far

2-MIN READ2-MIN

A veterinarian checks a cow’s mouth before injecting a dose of foot-and-mouth vaccine at a farm in Bogor, Indonesia’s West Java. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:04pm, 6 Jul 2022Updated: 12:22pm, 6 Jul 2022

An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia threatens to disrupt a ritual of slaughtering animals to mark the festival of Eid ul-Adha this year, with livestock traders in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation bemoaning low sales.

Eid ul-Adha, known as the “Festival of Sacrifice”, is one of the main holidays in the Islamic calendar and this year falls on July 9.

In the lead up to celebrations, makeshift pens housing cows and goats typically appear around busy thoroughfares in the Indonesian capital and around the country. Traditionally, devout Muslims slaughter the animals and share the meat with the poor.

A worker cleans cows displayed for sale in Medan ahead of the Eid ul-Adha holiday in Indonesia. Photo: EPA-EFE

But this year the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, a contagious viral disease that affects cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, has significantly dampened sales.

“This year is a year of loss for us,” said Jamal Lulay, a trader in West Java who has only sold 50 cows this year. “Before Covid, we could sell up to 330 cows, and during Covid it was around 170 … This year sales have dropped drastically.”

Indonesia had launched a nationwide livestock vaccination programme in an attempt curb the outbreak that began this May.

More than 317,000 animals have been infected in 21 Indonesian provinces, largely on the most populated islands of Java and Sumatra, with more than 3,400 animals culled, according to government data.