Russia: ASF in Belgorod – 40 000 pigs to be culled
In the Belgorod region the first outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF) virus has been confirmed, according to local veterinary services.
The outbreak occurred in an illegal private farm in Livenka Krasnogvardeisky district. The owners of the farm are facing prosecution and imprisonment. Thus far, 14 pigs have died due to ASF. Veterinary Services reported that in order to prevent the further spread of ASF it has been decided that local authorities plan will cull 40,000 pigs.
According to the Department of Agriculture of the Belgorod region on the purchasing and culling of pigs from farms with low level of protection from ASF it will be allocated about 500 million rubles (US$17mln).
“Despite the activities that we conducted on depopulatiing pigs in private backyards, it appears that pigs are still housed in unsuitable conditions. And now we receive new information that there could be other such secret farms. The elimination of this outbreak will be very, very expensive, as this outbreak is located 5-10 minutes drive from a major industrial pig farm,” said the head of the region, Yevgeny Savchenko.
