sheep.smallMillions of sheep in the central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan are to be issued with passports in a bid to monitor and control disease among the animals.

More than four million sheep in the former Soviet republic will be issued with high-tech passports under the plan, first deputy prime minister Akylbek Japarov told the Kyrgyz parliament.

“We are ready to make a passport for each sheep. That is, from their birth to their slaughter, it will be possible to recognise a sheep’s pedigree by using laser scanning,” he said.

The passport scheme also includes a system of insurance for sheep which are a major source of income for many poor families in the mountainous country.

But Dzhalalidin Gaybulin, head of the National Center of Quarantine and Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health in Bishkek urged the government to go further and introduce passports for cows as well.

“In Kyrgyzstan, every cow must obtain a passport in order to prevent the spread of dangerous infection to humans,” he said.

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