EVEN as culling of African Swine Fever-infected hogs has slowed down in Pangasinan, the Provincial Veterinary Office (PVO) recommended the total lockdown of affected piggeries in towns/cities in order to protect the remaining hog population from getting infected by the disease.

This was gleaned from a memo-report of Dr. Jovito Tabarejos, the acting Provincial Veterinarian, to Governor Amado Espino III dated February 28, 2020 that also recommended the setting up of border protection checkpoints to ensure that no infected hog or their carcasses enter unaffected barangays and municipalities.

Earlier, Tabarejos reported that only 37 percent of the province has been infected by ASF, or 48 barangays in 18 municipalities/cities.

The newly culled were 257 hogs on February 26, 482 on February 27, and 412 on February 27, and 412 on February 28.  215 were in Barangay Maasin in Mangaldan.

Grace Palad of PVO, said more barangays are expected to be included in the list of ASF-affected areas when the results of the analysis on blood samples of 1,138 hogs from several more areas in Pangasinan become available.

Some 30 blood samples were taken from swine in Barangay Calobaoan in San Carlos City for surveillance, while five blood samples of hogs were also collected in Barangay Yatyat in Laoac to confirm if ASF has also already reached that town.

Marissa de Vera, a veterinarian in charge of District IV, confirmed that ASF is beginning to be noted in Barangay Longos in San Fabian, a neighboring town of Mangaldan, tagged as one of the four worst ASF-affected municipalities in Pangasinan.

The other worst-affected, she said, are Bayambang, Binmaley, and Bugallon.

Of the four-worst-affected towns, only Binmaley and Mangaldan have so far declared a state of calamity enabling them to use part of their Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund to assist hog raisers who suffered from culling operations.

Meanwhile, De Vera reported that the ASF in Dagupan has been contained in Barangay Carael.

She said hog raisers already suffered heavy losses as a result of the ASF, while the predicament of big hog raisers is they cannot bring out their hogs for sale in the market because of the checkpoints along all highways.

There were reports that because of ASF, many households in Pangasinan are no longer buying pork but rather beef, carabeef, and chicken. (Leonardo Micua)

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