DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand's animal husbandry department has decided to cull down pigs in the wake of the Himalayan state recording nearly 600 swine deaths due to African Swine Fever (AFS).
The decision has been taken under the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act of 2009. This is the first time the hill state has invoked the act to selectively slaughter pigs to contain the spread of AFS. A few days ago, Kerala's animal husbandry department had also announced to cull at least 300 pigs after the highly-contagious AFS was reported from two farms in its Wayanad district.
So far, AFS has only been found in black spotted pigs, the breed commonly found in the state. Fortunately, the disease has not spread among white and farm-bred. In Uttarakhand, Pauri Garhwal has emerged as the worst-hit district with 289 pig deaths due to AFS, followed by 194 deaths in Dehradun, and 110 others in Haldwani. To check the spread of AFS, district administrations have started identifying the areas that have reported the disease.
"With no other immediate solution in sight, we decided to isolate and cull infected pigs to contain the disease," said Dr Prem Kumar, director of the animal husbandry department in Uttarakhand. In fact, the Himalayan state has already slaughtered 10 infected pigs in Pauri, five in Dehradun city, and three in Doiwala (Dehradun district). The slaughter takes place under the observation of veterinarians and domain experts.
