Dominican Republic to kill thousands of pigs over swine fever outbreak

SANTO DOMINGO, Aug 2 (Reuters) – The Dominican Republic will slaughter tens of thousands of pigs after detecting outbreaks of African swine fever in 11 of the country’s 32 provinces, authorities said on Monday.

Fernando Duran, administrator of the state-run Banco Agricola, told a news conference the government will pay pig farmers the market price of each animal slaughtered.

The Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency is advising #CARICOMOrg Member States to intensify protective measures https://t.co/4MqXYmVzlA against the African Swine Fever which is now confirmed to be in the Americas.

— Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (@CARICOMorg) July 30, 2021

Announcement of the slaughter comes after authorities sent 389 samples from pig farms across the country to U.S. laboratories after registering the widespread death of animals in three provinces in the last month.

Authorities said the only way to stop the disease, which is lethal and for which there is no vaccine, is to kill the entire pig population in farms where it has been detected.

Officials are still investigating the origin of the outbreak and have not said how many pigs will be slaughtered.

Read more at: Reuters

Source: CARICOM TODAY