The directorate of veterinary services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform has lifted the restriction on the movement of live cattle from the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) free zone area for direct slaughter. Chief Veterinarian in the Epidemiology, Import and Export Control Department, Dr Immanuel Hikufe, explained on Tuesday the restriction was only lifted in the two Kavango regions, saying that direct slaughter takes place within 72 hours upon arrival and under supervision of veterinary services. This follows the FMD outbreak last year in the Kavango East, Kavango West, Ohangwena, Oshikoto and Oshana regions. 'Even in the two Kavango regions, we were not allowing animals to be slaughtered from villages or crush pens where FMD was reported. We have started to allow this now provided the animals in that region were vaccinated twice in the last two months,' he explained. Hikufe said the directorate conducted vaccinations from last year September when FMD was detected and has covered the infected areas twice. He said if an animal is not vaccinated twice and is from an infected area it cannot move as it will risk taking the virus out. Hikufe further explained that because vaccination is doing well and they are not finding further cases of FMD they decided to relax the measures further. The chief veterinarian said the directorate is also allowing animals from poor grazing areas such as in the Kunene region to move to areas with better grazing. However, he said these cattle have to be inspected first for clinical signs of FMD and have to be vaccinated before they move if they were not vaccinated before in the last three months. 'If the cattle have not been vaccinated before their movement, arrangements can be made where they will be vaccinated at the place of destination,' Hikufe said.