CITY VET COORDINATES WITH MAKILALA LGU IN SETTING UP ASF CHECK POINTS, INTENSIFIES CAMPAIGN TO AVOID SWILL FEEDING

NEWS | 2020/02/21 | LKRO

CITY VET COORDINATES WITH MAKILALA LGU IN SETTING UP ASF CHECK POINTS, INTENSIFIES CAMPAIGN TO AVOID SWILL FEEDING

KIDAPAWAN CITY – THE CITY VETERINARIAN HERE HAS already coordinated with neighboring LGU’s and provided added manpower in check points entering Kidapawan City.

City Veterinarian Dr. Eugene Gornez in a stakeholders meeting on African Swine Fever on February 11, 2020, outlined his office’s initiatives to stop the spread of the disease among swine farms and backyard hog raising in different barangays in the city.

The OCVET provided added personnel to complement counterparts from Makilala Local Government Unit in manning the entry point along Barangay Bulatukan in the said municipality.

Vehicles passing through the said entry point are checked and disinfected for possible ASF infected hogs or pork meat products.

If and when owners of these vehicles fail to show pertinent documents, they are ordered to go back to their points of origin, lest pork meat products be confiscated by authorities.

Aside from implementing strict checks on entry points, Gornez also conducted monitoring for possible ASF infestation in the barangays of the city.

Blood samples taken from a number of swine in Barangay Gayola rendered negative for ASF during the tests done by the Department of Agriculture XII.

Also shedding light on the ASF infestation during the stakeholders meeting is Dr. Geraldson Navarra of the Bureau of Animal Quarantine of the DA XII.

Dr. Navarra emphasized the need to contain the ASF since it can adversely affect the local economies of LGU’s.

Kidapawan City alone, stands to lose Php 60 Million if the ASF infestation breaks out in swine farms of the City, Navarra revealed.
Once ASF enters the locality, all hogs whether infected or not, within the 1 kilometer radius from its source of infection will be culled, he said thereby, bringing huge losses to hog raisers and meat business operators.

The authorities emphasized and insisted that hog raisers avoid swill feeding their hogs to contain the spread of ASF.##(cio/ajpme/lkro)