Bacolod City – A temporary ban on the entry of live hogs, sows, piglets, boar semen, pork and its related products from Negros Island to Cebu, was ordered recently by the latter’s governor, Gwendolyn Garcia.
In her issued executive order, Garcia said the temporary banning will last for a period of 30 days, which will end on April 5.
This was after the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Animal Disease Diagnostic and Reference Laboratory confirmed the detection of African Swine Fever viral DNA in blood samples obtained, as a result of ASF surveillance activities, in Carcar City, Cebu.
In her issued executive order, Garcia said that the pigs from which blood samples were obtained, were kept at the barangay stockyards, together with pigs originating from Negros Island.
Being the largest pork producing province in Central Visayas, Garcia said the provincial government of Cebu considers ASF a very serious concern, as it is a fatal and highly contagious disease of domestic and wild pigs with a mortality rate of 100 percent.
She also revoked all passes issued for livestock transport vehicles and reefer vans from Negros Island, until further notice.
The ASF virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in pigs.
The Provincial Veterinary Office has declared that Negros Occidental remains ASF free, while cases spread in Iloilo, Guimaras and Capiz. (Gilbert Bayoran via The Visayan Daily Star (TVDS), photo courtesy of TVDS)