Piggery farm (PNA file photo)
LEGAZPI CITY -- Some 250 heads of pigs in the town of Bombon in Camarines Sur will be culled after 23 hogs died in the area and were tested positive for African swine fever (ASF) by veterinary personnel of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in Bicol.
Emilia Bordado, DA-Bicol spokesperson, in a phone interview on Friday said the agency dispatched on Thursday a seven-man team of veterinary personnel to cull the pigs that were raised in areas within the one-kilometer radius where several hogs died.
She said ASF cases were reported in at least 13 villages of Bombon.
"As a preventive measure to stop the spread of ASF, the DA has declared a “lockdown” in that area where all kinds of animals and meat products coming in and out of Bombon town would not be allowed. The town is nine kilometers away from Naga City," Bordado said.
Even the seven veterinary personnel who performed the culling will undergo isolation for 15 days in the town's designated quarantine facility, she added.
In Calabanga town, a team of veterinary personnel was also dispatched to check on the report that several pigs also died.
Meanwhile, in Naga City, local officials placed their area under lockdown due to the ASF cases in the neighboring town of Bombon.
Earlier, some 577 kilos of processed meat products from ASF-affected regions were intercepted and confiscated by members of Task Force African Swine Fever in Naga as well as in Legazpi.
Bordado said the agency will be giving PHP5, 0000 cash assistance to livestock farmers for every swine afflicted with the disease or culled.
The cash assistance, however, will not exceed 20 swine heads per farmer. (PNA)
