Foot-and-mouth: Cyprus culls 1,500 sheep

Cypriot authorities started slaughtering about 1,500 sheep Wednesday after an EU lab confirmed foot-and-mouth disease in two more farms, the agriculture minister said.

Fotis Fotiou said the EU-accredited lab in Pirbright, England, confirmed the new outbreaks of the highly contagious virus Tuesday.

Authorities planned to destroy 1,500 animals from one farm in the livestock breeding area of Dromolaxia and slaughter another 70 from another farm on Thursday.

"(Farmers) must understand that whatever measures are taken, even slaughtering animals, they are taken to prevent the worst," Fotiou said.