Davao del Sur town battles swine fever

ALTERNATIVE Rabbits are being sold at a pet shop in Pasay City. The Department of Agriculture in February said it was considering rabbits for backyard raisers amid the presence of swine fever in the country. —RICHARD A. REYES

DIGOS CITY—Still reeling from the economic impact of the lockdown measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, Bansalan town of Davao del Sur faces another threat in the reemergence of African swine fever among hog farms in the area.

As of June 6, at least 17 pigs have been culled in one of the town villages to contain the spread of the virus, agriculture officials said.

Bansalan Mayor Quirina Sarte ordered the activation of a joint task force to contain swine fever as cases were reported in Buenavista village, the epicenter of the infection.

Bansalan legal counsel Kirby Alborez Villaraiz said laboratory results from the the Department of Agriculture (DA) confirmed the infection. Sarte thereafter held an emergency meeting with department heads.Stricter measures

Municipal Agriculturist Zaldy Sumangil said the task force immediately conducted checkpoints within the 1-kilometer radius to stop the spread of the infection to the villages of Managa, Union, Poblacion and Anonang.

Sumangil said stricter measures have been put in place in Buenavista, including a temporary ban on the transport of pigs and pork products from these areas. He said all pigs culled were to be buried in the same village where cases were found.

DA immediately imposed the 1-7-10 protocol in Bansalan town—ordering the immediate culling of pigs within the 1-kilometer radius from the epicenter, the surveillance and tagging of pigs within the seven-kilometer radius and the mandatory monitoring of livestock for sale within the 10-kilometer radius.

Swill

Samples from all pigs within the 1-kilometer radius were already submitted to a laboratory and test results will be out on Friday, Sumangil said.

Since the public market is within the 1-kilometer radius, meat vendors were allowed to sell pork products only from the municipal slaughterhouse.

Villaraiz urged the public not to feed pigs with swill to prevent the spread of infection.

The city government will conduct a thorough inspection to ensure the monitoring of all culled pigs, Sumangil said.