500 hogs in Bulacan town culled; DAR monitors Mindanao

NORZAGARAY, Bulacan, Philippines — As many as 500 pigs were destroyed on Saturday after an infestation of African swine fever (ASF) killed 400 of 900 hogs being raised at the Eco Farm here last month.

The infections were detected on the third week of January at the pig farm in Sitio Mataas na Kahoy at Barangay FVR.

Blood samples taken on Jan. 29 tested positive for ASF, said municipal agriculturist Agapito Pascual, who led the culling operation.

The area has been quarantined and disinfected, while authorities enforced security measures to prevent the spread of the disease, said Voltaire Basi-nang, Bulacan veterinary officer.

Last year, ASF struck the towns of Guiguinto, Plaridel, Pulilan, Pandi, Baliwag, San Rafael and Bulakan, as well as Malolos City.

Basinang said many commercial hog farms as well as backyard farms had stopped operating after their animals were culled.

Dar’s warning“They want to be cautious and are observing how the di¬sease is behaving in other parts of Bulacan,” he said.

Agriculture Secretary William Dar warned hog tra¬ders against buying hogs from ASF-infected areas to avoid the spread of the disease in other parts of Mindanao.

This developed as agriculture officials suspected pork meat from Indonesia, which recently reported an ASF outbreak, could have found its way to Mindanao and caused the swine deaths first reported in Marcelino town in Davao Occidental.

Dar urged local governments to heighten surveillance and mo¬nitoring of pigs in ASF-affected areas as he met with agriculture officials here to contain the spread of the virus, which could threaten about a million hogs in the region.

“In our experience, there were those who hid the hogs and sold them to traders. That’s how the [ASF] spread from Region 3 [where the infection of hogs was first reported],” Dar said.

“Let me give you [a warning]. Whoever violates [the] Animal Welfare Act, particularly selling and trading of deceased or dead farm animals, will have to face imprisonment of six months to two years and the corresponding fines.” he added.—Carmela Reyes Estrope and Germelina Lacorte