AROUND 200 hogs in Dipilat village in Vintar, Ilocos Norte are expected to be culled to contain the spread of African swine fever (ASF), the Provincial Veterinary Office reported Wednesday.
“This is based on the initial inventory of the Municipal Agriculture Office (MAO) in Vintar,” said Dr. Loida Valenzuela, provincial veterinarian, as her team along with other local authorities went to Dipilat on Wednesday to assess the situation.
Guided by the ASF guidelines currently being implemented nationwide, all animals located within the 500 meters from the infected zone need to be culled, regardless if these are infected or not.
As of the moment, Valenzuela said they have yet to identify what triggered the infection as the hog raisers in the area seem to be shy and refused to talk about it.
“We learned that there had been deaths (of hogs) before but it was not reported to authorities,” said Valenzuela, as she urged the cooperation of the community to get to the bottom of the problem.
A truck and a backhoe are now in place in the area as authorities scan for a possible burial site of the infected animals. In an earlier report from the MAO, at least two hogs from Dipilat were found positive of ASF.
Since the start of ASF outbreak in the province last June, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) has already reported over PHP40 million worth of losses, affecting the towns of Solsona, Dingras, Marcos, Carasi, and Nueva Era.
To compensate for the hog raisers’ losses, the PVO and the Department of Agriculture continue to offer alternative livelihood assistance to mitigate the financial impact of the disease.
Hog producers are strongly advised to follow strict biosecurity protocols, eliminate meat-based swill feeding, and limit interaction between pig farms, while consumers should be cautious of fraudulent vendors, particularly in online trading. ( Leilanie Adriano)
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