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Days after the outbreak of African swine fever at Debipur breeding farm, mass execution of the infected pigs started at the farm from today. Sources said, in presence of higher officials of the Animal Resource Development Department and police force, execution of the pigs had been carried out.
But what surprised the locals was the process adopted by the ARDD officials for the culling. It was decided that the pigs would be injected with poisonous medicine to kill the infected ones to bury them in a specific space but eyewitnesses claimed that the pigs were killed through bludgeoning by an ax.
Official sources said, all the infected pigs could not be killed on the first day so the exercise will continue on Sunday as well. “So far 121 pigs had been culled”, said officials.
There are altogether 38 piggery farms within the one kilometer of the government farm considered to be the epicenter of the outbreak. The police officials and ARD department representatives have visited all the farms and requested them to surrender the animals for culling. All the pigs would be brought to the Debipur farm to complete the process. The private farm owners will be duly compensated as per the central government scheme.
However, local sources claimed that an unscrupulous group of traders have started to buy the infected pigs at low rates to supply them in the open market. A section of the private farm owners fearing drop in rate are selling out the pigs. After being informed the civil administration has started to intervene and raise awareness among the local farm owners.
