VETERINARY teams have killed around half the cloven-hoofed animals targeted for destruction as the country grapples with a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, says an Agricultural Ministry spokesman. The foot-and-mouth disease control centre (FMD) said teams of vets assisted by the army killed 1 587 pigs, burnt the carcasses and buried the ashes. The animals were being killed on about 18 farms within a three-kilometre radius around two farms at Camperdown in KwaZulu-Natal where foot-and-mouth broke out nearly two weeks ago. The outbreak is believed to have been caused by a virus brought into eastern KwaZulu-Natal in pig swill imported from the Middle East or Far East. Foot-and-mouth disease affects cloven-hooved animals and causes high fevers, blisters and often death, but is not dangerous to humans. – Reuters