Animal transports banned in German region after foot-and-mouth disease detected

Animal transports have been banned in a state surrounding Berlin and the capital’s two zoos have closed as a precaution after foot-and-mouth disease was detected in a buffalo herd just outside the city. It is Germany’s first outbreak for more than 35 years. Authorities in Brandenburg state, which surrounds Berlin, said on Friday that a farmer found three of a 14-strong herd of water buffalo dead just outside the capital’s city limits. Germany’s national animal health institute confirmed that foot-and-mouth disease had been detected in samples from one animal, and the rest of the herd was slaughtered. It wasn’t clear how the animals were infected.