After suffering five months of quarantine, and being forced to cull over 26,000 thousand birds due to the outbreak of avian influenza, South African ostrich farmers at last have something to celebrate. The quarantine on ostrich farms is to be lifted and farmers are to be allowed to buy new stock.

The Eastern Cape agriculture department’s veterinary services confirmed in a statement that the quarantine had been lifted. It is hoped that international bans on the import of South African ostrich meat and products will also be lifted, but, for the present, they are still in force.

Officials stated that although the quarantine had been lifted, only farms that had tested negative for the disease would be permitted to restock and that stringent measures would continue to avoid any recurrence of the disease.

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