ASF in Belarus – 20,000 pigs culled
While authorities and heads of the pig farm Vostochni continue to deny the occurrence of an African Swine Fever (ASF) outbreak at the beginning of May, farm workers are convinced that the company is hiding information from the media.
“During a week we’ve destroyed pigs, while there was not a word in the media about the epidemic or whatever it is officially called. Only later, when half the village of Zemcuzna located nearby where many people work at the pig farm started to sound the alarm and contact the media, it was made public,” said an employee.
“Pigs died within a month. On April 27 traffic police completely sealed the complex within a radius of 3 km. Any cars from outside were not passing through, the police and the military arrived and epidemiologists from Minsk arrived. ” said the employee.
Workers reported that about 20 000 thousand pigs were culled – nearly a quarter of the total population on the farm. At the same time, according to the heads of the farm this figure did not exceed 5,000. Also the veterinary services removed and slaughtered pigs within a radius of 10 km due to the outbreak. Experts are suspicious regarding the situation.
