With the authorities lifting restrictions relating to foot-and-mouth disease, an alpaca show will take place in September

 Now that the risk of foot-and-mouth disease and hoof diseases in cattle has been eliminated, it will soon be possible once again to organise events featuring farm animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, alpacas or llamas in Lithuania.

The Alpaca and Llama Breeders’ Association, which has around 40 members, is already preparing for a specialised exhibition of alpacas and their wool in September.

The State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT) is proposing to lift the stricter measures introduced a year ago to protect these animals from foot-and-mouth disease – which could enter Lithuania due to outbreaks in Europe and other countries. Last year, these diseases spread in Germany and Hungary.

Consequently, the VMVT banned events involving these cloven-hoofed farm animals and tightened safety requirements at their holding facilities. The agency now states that there is no risk of disease.

“No new cases of foot-and-mouth disease have been recorded in mainland Europe since the end of May; therefore, in the opinion of the VMVT, it is not appropriate to continue applying any stricter foot-and-mouth disease control measures in Lithuania“, – states the draft order by the agency’s director, Audronė Mikalauskienė.

The Ministry of Agriculture has no objection to this.

The State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT) told BNS that several reports of possible cases of the disease were received whilst the stricter measures were in force, but investigations failed to confirm the disease. No reports of the disease have been received this year.

Akvilė Girdzijauskaitė, chair of the Alpaca and Llama Breeders’ Association, told BNS that she will now be able to prepare for a specialised exhibition of alpacas and their wool in Lithuania on the last weekend of September.

“There was no exhibition last year because of the restrictions, but the one the year before last (the exhibition – BNS) was a great success, and we will definitely be organising it again this year, as a judge from Germany has already been booked to attend,“ said A. Girdzijauskaitė.

According to her, around 2,000 alpacas are reared on Lithuanian farms, with fewer llamas.

According to data from the State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT), in February this year the Cyprus Veterinary Service confirmed outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease at three livestock farms in the Larnaca district, whilst in March, Greece reported the first confirmed outbreaks of the disease on the island of Lesbos.

In Germany, in the state of Brandenburg, near the country’s capital, Berlin, the first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in a herd of buffalo was confirmed in January 2025, whilst in March three cases were confirmed in Slovakia; meanwhile, six outbreaks were recorded in Hungary last spring.

Germany regained its foot-and-mouth disease-free status in April 2025, Hungary in September, and Slovakia at the end of October.