DEHRADUN: Increasing cases of swine fever have set the alarm bells ringing in Uttarakhand, with the state animal husbandry department imposing a ban on the sale of pork and transportation of pigs in the entire state.
As many as 192 pigs have died due to the ailment in Pauri and Dehradun districts. The affected pig farm operators will be given compensation by the state government as per the norms, state Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries Minister Saurabh Bahuguna told this newspaper.
Officials from the animal husbandry department said as a preventive measure, the areas affected have been marked out. Dr PVR Purushottam, secretary, animal husbandry, said: “Though it is an airborne disease, it poses no danger to human beings or to animals except pigs. As a precautionary measure, the government has made a one-km radius area as infective zone and 10-km radius area as surveillance zone.”
Swine fever has been confirmed in the samples send to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Bareilly, and the National Institute of High Security Animal Disease, Bhopal.
Out of the total 500 pigs in Dehradun, 104 have died due to the disease whereas in Pauri, 90 out of 111 died. Once reports arrive from Bhopal, culling process will be adopted, officials said.