African Swine Fever: Culling starts in Assam

GUWAHATI: In Assam, the culling (selective slaughter) process of pigs suffering from 'African Swine Fever' has commenced.

The culling of pigs was earlier scheduled to start in the State after August 15 this year. But the drive had to be postponed because of the seasonal floods. However, the death of 44 pigs of a farmer in the past one week at Changsari in Kamrup district prompted the State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary department to start the culling on Tuesday. The department has culled 144 pigs in the Changsari area till date.

Talking to The Sentinel on Wednesday, State Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Director Ashok Barman said, "Culling of pigs has already started in Assam. We've culled pigs affected by 'African Swine Fever' at Changsari yesterday. Our next target may be Morigaon. We need to conduct a survey of an area before culling to ascertain if 'African Swine Fever' really occurs there.

"The problem related to the culling of pigs is the burIn Assam, the culling (selective slaughter) process of pigs suffering from 'African Swine Fever' has commenced.

The culling of pigs was earlier scheduled to start in the State after August 15 this year. But the drive had to be postponed because of the seasonal floods. However, the death of 44 pal of carcasses. When we have to bury a large number of carcasses, we need a mechanism. We've an estimation of culling around 12,000 pigs. And the number may go up. When a pig dies of swine flu, taking that spot as the epicentre we need to cull all the pigs within a sphere of one km radius."

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal during a meeting with the Veterinary department on September 26, 2020, asked it to complete the culling of pigs before the Durga Puja.

Even though the pig farmers put the total death of pigs due to 'African Swine Fever' this year at one lakh, official sources put the number at 18,000. The outbreak of 'African Swine Fever' was reported in Assam in May this year.

On the compensation to be paid to the affected pig farmers of the State, official sources said that the compensation for each culled pig is determined by its weight, age and variety. Thus, the compensation of a culled pig can be between Rs 2,000 and Rs 30,000.

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