AIZAWL:
In the midst of recurrence of African Swine Fever in the state, which has claimed the lives of 5,821 pigs since early March, authorities in southernmost Mizoram’s Siaha district’s Tipa town seized 11 pigs that were being smuggled from Myanmar by three persons.
Siaha district administration officials said that three persons – Chhathau, Zaole and Byhna of Khaikhy village in Myanmar – carried out the act in violation of the prohibitory order banning import of pigs and piglets from neighboring states and countries due to recurrence of ASF outbreak.
The three persons, who allegedly smuggled the pigs, were arrested on June 13 and they claimed that the pigs belonged to the refugees from Myanmar.
Veterinary officer Dr Lalrengpuii was sent from the district headquarters Siaha to Tipa to conduct tests and the samples tested negative of the African Swine Fever, but she ordered the pigs to be quarantined for 21 days as a precautionary measure.
The trio smuggled some pigs again on June 17 but were pushed back to Khaky village in Myanmar along with the pigs as instructed by the deputy commissioner of Siaha district.
District Veterinary officials said that Siaha district remained safe from the dreaded porcine disease which has infested 9 of the 11 districts in the state.
With 137 pigs dead on Tuesday, the toll of the ASF recurrence rose to 5,821, while 4,878 pigs have been culled till date to prevent further spread of the disease.
The ASF recurrence have infested 80 villages in 9 districts while 717 pigs have died in 50 villages not yet declared as ASF infested areas, but were suspected to have died due to the porcine disease.
The maximum number of pigs had died during the recurrence of the outbreak in Myanmar border Champhai district, followed by Aizawl district, Mizoram-Bangladesh-Tripura border Mamit district and Assam border Kolasib district continued to have more casualties during the past few days.
The first ever ASF outbreak hit the state last year with a number of the porcine infections identified on March 21, 2021 which killed at least 33,417 pigs during last year and 10,910 pigs were culled to prevent further spread of the porcine disease.
Unlike other porcine diseases including the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) and the Classical Swine Fever(CSF), the ASF infected pigs and piglets died soon after being infected without any survivors, while a large number of pigs infected with PRRS and CSF survived, experts said.