• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Provincial African swine fever (ASF) Task Force further tightened its monitoring in seaports and coastlines of Negros Occidental, after intercepting the undocumented delivery of hogs in Escalante City and Calatrava town on Aug. 12 and 13, respectively.
Provincial veterinarian Placeda Lemana said yesterday that a pumpboat loaded with 12 hogs was intercepted on Tuesday in the coastline of Calatrava.
On Monday, the local ASF task force stopped the delivery of hogs in Escalante City and sent the animals back to its point of origin, Lemana said.
She suspected that the hogs intercepted in Calatrava may have been among those sent back from Escalante City.
Lemana, however, said that the Provincial Veterinary Office cannot confirm if the pigs came from Cebu province.
The entry of live pigs and pork-related products from Cebu, Negros Oriental, Panay, Luzon and Mindanao to Negros Occidental is still prohibited in Negros Occidental.
Arsolene Cordova, livestock section head of Escalante City Agriculture Office, said that the persons who transported the live pigs claimed that these came from Molocaboc Island in the neighboring Sagay City.
Cordova, however, said that Molacaboc barangay officials denied it.
One of the transported pigs died, Lemana said.
The resurgence of ASF cases in Batangas and Negros Oriental, especially in Valencia town, has prompted the Provincial ASF Task Force to tighten border controls across Negros Occidental to prevent the entry of live pigs, pork and pork by-products, from ASF affected areas.
Lemana said that they are not taking chances, especially now that Negros Occidental is on the third phase of recovery efforts in hog repopulation.
Last year, Negros Occidental logged almost 18,000 hog mortalities in about 20 local government units, mainly due to hog cholera and ASF. | GB
